January 6 Committee to indict Trump for three crimes including insurgency

According to a new report Friday, the Jan. 6 committee will ask the Justice Department to pursue at least three criminal charges against Donald Trump, including rioting.

The panel will hold its final meeting of the year on Monday. Its report of its findings will be released on Wednesday next week as it completes its work before being disbanded.

At their Monday meeting, panel members will vote on recommending charges against the former president, including sedition; obstruction of an official procedure; and conspiracy to defraud the United States government, Politico reported.

In a series of high-profile hearings this year after the 2020 election, which Trump falsely claims he won, the committee argued that Trump was pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw the election results back to the states in an attempt to overturn the election results.

The Jan. 6 committee will ask the Justice Department to pursue at least three criminal charges against Donald Trump

Pence did not testify, but a number of other senior Trump officials did – including Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, former Attorney General Bill Barr and Roger Stone.

It’s unclear if more charges for Trump are on the table, or if other criminal charges will be brought for other players in that day’s drama.

The panel will cite U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s February ruling in support of its recommendation, saying Trump’s language plausibly incited violence on January 6, 2021.

Trump addressed his supporters on the morning of January 6 on the national ellipse — the area directly in front of the White House. Later that day, a mob of his supporters marched to the Capitol and broke into the building to stop the Electoral College’s certification of Biden’s victory.

The panel also cites the Senate’s 57 votes in the second impeachment trial against Trump last year, in which the House voted to indict him on “insurgency incitement.” He was acquitted by the Senate as a guilty verdict requires 60 votes.

But the panel’s recommendation to impeach Trump is likely to spark a political firestorm. Trump has already announced that he will seek another term in the White House in the 2024 election and has long complained that he faces political retaliation from rivals.

Even some Republicans say he shouldn’t be a target while running for office.

Trump has criticized the committee’s work, calling its members “political thugs.”

The Justice Department is already investigating documents discovered at his home in Mar-a-Lago, many of which have been classified as classified. He brought them from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

An October report said DoJ prosecutors believe “there is sufficient evidence” to indict Trump in this area, but the group has “made no formal recommendation” to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has final approval.

Garland would have to authorize an additional investigation or indictment.

The Committee’s recommendations have no legal force, and Garland is under no obligation to consider them in making decisions.

Earlier this year, the panel voted to subpoena Trump, but he has declined to appear before the committee.

Outgoing Representative Liz Cheney was one of two Republicans who served on the January 6 committee

The Jan. 6 committee was formed by Democrats to investigate the origins of the insurgency that disrupted certification of the 2020 presidential election

The Jan. 6 committee, set up by Democrats to investigate the origins of the insurgency that disrupted confirmation of the 2020 presidential election, is completing its work before Congress adjourns.

Officials collected more than 140,000 documents over the 17 months of the investigation and conducted more than 1,000 interviews with Trump aides, rioters and officials they claim were directly or indirectly involved in the riots.

The last hearing on Monday is the 10th.

The hearings included dramatic testimony — both from live witnesses and recorded interviews with Trump advisers — that revealed the former president’s movements on Jan. 6.

Cheney called Trump a “key player” in the day’s events.

In the hearings:

• The committee presented testimony from Ivanka Trump, who said she denied her father’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen
• Presents evidence that Trump led a “sprawling, multi-tiered conspiracy aimed at overturning the presidential election”
• As rioters said, they went to the capital on the orders of the then President
• The danger to Mike Pence and his team when rioters tried to hang Pence
• Described how Trump tried to pressure the Justice Department into pursuing his baseless voter fraud theories.
• Former Trump Justice Department officials testified about an explosive standoff between the ex-president and “hundreds” of administration officials who were poised to step down if 2020 draft dodger Jeffrey Clark was named attorney general
• Revealed Trump’s state of mind on January 6th

Republicans take control of the House on Jan. 3 and are expected to dismantle the body dominated by Democratic lawmakers.

The only two Republicans on it — Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — are longtime Trump critics. Cheney lost her primary after Trump backed her opponent and Kinzinger decided not to seek another term in Congress.