WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee is investigating the Capitol riot Final public display will be on Monday About Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to overturn the presidential election he lost in 2020. Commission calls it an “attempted coup” DOJ needs criminal prosecution.
It is expected to be the committee’s closing statement as it wraps up a year-and-a-half-long investigation and prepares to release a final report detailing its findings into the Jan. 10 uprising in the nation’s capital. On February 6, 2021, Congress was certifying Joe Biden for president. The committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, will disband at the end of the year.
Monday’s meeting will be the committee’s 11th public meeting since it was established in July 2021. One of the first hearings, held on June 9, was watched by more than 20 million people.
What to watch for Monday’s 1 p.m. ET meeting:
recommend the president
The committee is expected to make criminal and civil referrals of the former president and his allies who, according to lawmakers, violated the law or violated the code of ethics.
The chairman of the committee, Rep. Senator Bennie Thompson said referrals could include crimes, ethics violations, legal misconduct and campaign finance violations. In particular, lawmakers suggested charges they suggested against Trump could include conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of a formal process of Congress and insurrection.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday he believes Trump has committed multiple crimes. Schiff singled out the insurgency, saying: “If you look at the actions of Donald Trump and you match them up with regulations, it’s a pretty good match.”
“This is a guy who is trying to pressure state officials in multiple ways to find votes that don’t exist, this guy is trying to disrupt joint meetings, he’s even inciting a mob attack on the Capitol,” Schiff told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If That’s not a crime, then I don’t know what that is.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said last week that the committee’s action would focus on “key individuals” who have strong or substantial evidence that they committed crimes.
Whether to press charges will be determined by federal prosecutors.Although they are not binding, the committee’s recommendations would increase political pressure on the Justice Department as special counsel Jack Smith Investigate Jan. 6 and Trump’s actions.
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Complicit lawmakers?
The committee could also involve other lawmakers on the ethics referral on Monday.
“We will also consider what appropriate remedies are available to members of Congress who ignore congressional subpoenas and the evidence that is very relevant to our investigation and why we should involve them,” Schiff said. “We’ve weighed the remedies for members of Congress. Is this a criminal referral to another branch of government, or is it better for Congress to oversee its own department?”
He said the committee considered censure and ethics referrals and would publish their decision on Monday.
Lawmakers who do not comply with Jan’s subpoena. 6 committees Including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy from California, as well as Republican representatives. Ohio State’s Jim Jordan, Pennsylvania State’s Scott Perry, Arizona State’s Andy Biggs and Alabama’s Mo Brooks.
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history record
Lawmakers promised Monday’s meeting would include a preview of the committee’s final report, which is expected to be released on Wednesday. The panel will vote to adopt the official record, effectively authorizing release of the report to the public.
The eight-chapter report will include hundreds of pages of findings about the attacks and Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy, drawing on information the committee has gathered through interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses.
It will broadly mirror a series of public hearings the committee held over the summer that detailed aspects of the investigation, including the role of extremist groups in the Jan. 17 violence. 6. Trump tried to win over the Department of Justice to participate in his conspiracy, and Trump coordinated with Republican lawmakers to overturn the election results.
Additional evidence, including extensive video footage and testimony assembled by the committee, is expected to be released publicly by the end of the year.
Expectations are high for the final report. Book publishers have begun selling pre-release copies to the public.
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legislative changes
A major legislative response to the insurgency could be fast-tracked if the committee meets one last time.
Lawmakers are expected to overhaul the arcane election law that Trump sought to upend after his defeat in the 2020 election by including legislative changes in a year-end spending bill.
Proposed reforms to electoral counting laws is one of the many by-products of January. 6 Attack on the Capitol. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has been working on legislation since the rebellion.Trump and his allies try to find loopholes The former president worked unsuccessfully to overturn his defeat against Biden in Congress certifying the law ahead of the 2020 vote.
If passed, the bill would amend a 19th-century law that, along with the Constitution, dictates how states and Congress certify electors and declare a presidential election winner, ensuring that each state’s popular vote is not rigged and Congress does not make arbitrary decisions President election.
The committee is also expected to release its own legislative proposals in its final report, including ideas on how to strengthen and expand the guardrails protecting Electoral College certification in 2021.
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closing statement
Since its inception, the Jan. 6 Committee has worked hard to create historical records and deepen public understanding of what led to the attack on the Capitol and the individuals involved.
“We obviously want to finish this story for the American people,” Ruskin said. “Everyone is on this journey with us, and we want a satisfactory conclusion where people feel Congress has done its job.”
After conducting thousands of interviews — from Trump’s cabinet secretaries to members of his own family — and obtaining tens of thousands of documents, congressional investigators say they’re critical of the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries. The attack was the most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken.
But the 16-month investigation also provides some sort of road map for criminal investigations, undermining the investigations into Trump and Young. Six progressed at the local, state and federal levels.
Questions have been raised about whether the Justice Department will act after Trump announces his candidacy for president in 2024. Schiff expressed concern Sunday that federal prosecutors may not act on the charges as long as Trump is politically relevant. “I think he should face the same remedies and legal effects as anyone else,” Schiff said.
Still, Monday’s meeting will be the final word on the committee, as its status as an interim or “choice” committee expires at the end of the current session of Congress.
Once the Republicans gain a majority next year, they are not expected to renew the committee and instead launch a series of investigations focused on the Biden administration and the president’s family.
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Associated Press writer Mary Claire Jalonik contributed to this report.
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Full coverage of January. 6 hearings, visit https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege