The House Jan. 6 committee may refer three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department, including an extraordinary insurrection charge.
The panel could also recommend charges of obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to defraud the United States, sources told the Associated Press.
No final decisions had been made Friday night. The committee will meet publicly on Monday to formally announce any recommendation.
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The Jan. 6 committee had hinted for months that Trump could face a criminal referral, with vice chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) calling the former president’s actions “chilling” in a July interview.
But the committee was running out of time, as Republicans are expected to disband it when they take control of the House in January.
The committee itself cannot levy criminal charges — but its referrals would put pressure on the Justice Department to bring federal charges against Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Trump only needed to “aid or comfort” the Jan. 6 rioters — not explicitly support them — to violate laws against insurrection, the committee argued in documents obtained by Politico, which first reported the plans.
The Justice Department is already investigating Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.
“What kind of man knows that a mob is armed and sends the mob to attack the Capitol and further incites that mob when his own vice president is under threat, when the Congress is under threat?” Cheney asked in July.
Earlier in December, committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel planned to refer charges, but refused to confirm if the referrals would involve Trump. He said the committee had “not made a decision as to who” might face referrals.
The committee is expected to release its final report Wednesday.
“The gravest offense in constitutional terms is the attempt to overthrow a presidential election and bypass the constitutional order,” panel member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said last week. “Subsidiary to all of that are a whole host of statutory offenses, which support the gravity and magnitude of that violent assault on America.”
With News Wire Services
