J6 Committee Set to Vote on Referring Trump for Three Crimes
With only a few weeks left until the de facto end of the January 6th select committee’s work, it appears as though the group is getting set for their most poignant action yet.
The committee’s long, hard look at Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 election and the events of January 6th, 2021, was always aimed at making the former President’s reelection more difficult – no matter the assurances that they gave the nation at the onset of their investigation.
Now, as the new year and a new Congress approaches, they seem to believe that Trump may have committed three distinct crimes.
The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to vote on urging the Justice Department to pursue at least three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, including insurrection.
The report that the select panel is expected to consider on Monday afternoon, described to POLITICO by two people familiar with its contents, reflects some recommendations from a subcommittee that evaluated potential criminal referrals. Among the charges that subcommittee proposes for Trump: 18 U.S.C. 2383, insurrection; 18 U.S.C. 1512(c), obstruction of an official proceeding; and 18 U.S.C. 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States government.
It’s unclear whether the select committee’s final report will recommend additional charges for Trump beyond the three described to POLITICO, or whether it will urge other criminal charges for other players in Trump’s bid to subvert his 2020 loss. The document, according to the people familiar, includes an extensive justification for the recommended charges.
Trump’s people released a statement, countering the idea that he’d be charged with “insurrection”.
“The January 6th un-Select Committee held show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement. “This Kangaroo court has been nothing more than a Hollywood executive’s vanity documentary project that insults Americans’ intelligence and makes a mockery of our democracy.”
Trump had previously been acquitted on the charge of “inciting an insurrection” by the Senate during his second impeachment trial.
