The U.S. Capitol attack of January 6th is being investigated by a select committee. They indicated that they may not direct any criminal charges against Donald Trump.
The evidence collected by investigators to the committee suggests that the former president was the subject of the evidence He probably committed a crime during his efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election.. District Judge David Carter issued a ruling last week, which ordered John Eastman, an ex-Trump lawyer, to comply. to turn over documents to the select committee, described the actions of Trump’s campaign as a “coup in search of a legal theory.”
However, the January 6 committee members suggest that a final criminal referral to Justice Department may not be necessary. According to reporting from PoliticoThese members pointed out that criminal referrals are a more formality that the department can either ignore or move forward with.
“A referral doesn’t mean anything,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) said. “It has no legal weight whatsoever, and I’m pretty sure the Department of Justice has read [Carter’s] opinion, so they don’t need us to tell them that it exists.”
Representative Bennie Thompson (D, Mississippi), is the committee chair. She has been noncommittal in seeking a criminal referral from Congress.
“Our job is … to look at the facts and circumstances around what occurred,” Thompson said to Politico, adding that Carter’s ruling “certainly indicates that, in his opinion, the president had something to do with what occurred.”
“There is credible evidence that the former President is engaged in criminal conduct,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) also told Politico. “And I don’t think that can be ignored by the Justice Department.”
Members of the committee may also be concerned that such referrals could cause political backlash or create an appearance of political pressure on Congress to charge Trump with crimes. Televised hearings are possibleLater this month, Trump’s case could be made public to the public. The DOJ could decide that based on the evidence presented at the hearings, such referrals are unnecessary.
The committee has also made clear that it believes Trump was involved in a “criminal conspiracy” to overturn the election, which the Justice Department is likely aware of. “Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts,” Early in March, lawyers representing the committee prepared a legal briefing..
However, even though committee members have not expressed much interest in making a referral for criminal cases, they have also made statements that indicated impatience with DOJ.
“This committee is doing its job. The Department of Justice needs to do theirs,” Lofgren said during a recent committee hearing.
