Rep. Jamie Ruskin (D-Md.) attends the final public meeting of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Capitol Hill, Washington, U.S., Dec. 19. After that, I will leave with the commission’s final report. 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
of January 6th House The long-awaited release by the selection committee final presentation Thursday concludes an 18-month investigation into the 2021 breach of the US Capitol by a violent mob of former President Donald Trump supporters.
Bipartisan committee unanimously to refer Trump to Justice Department for possible criminal investigation and prosecution over his efforts to reverse 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden An 845-page infamous report was issued three days after it was passed.
Among the recommendations was Trump’s future ban on evidence that a congressional committee with such powers violated his constitutional oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution while involved in the riots. Consider creating a “formal mechanism for evaluating whether or not to be barred” from holding federal office.
The report comes just weeks after Trump announced he would seek the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
“Our country opens the door to people in our country where a defeated president overthrows democratic institutions, incites violence, and, as I have seen, hate and bigotry threaten equality. Justice for All Americans,” wrote committee chair Rep. Benny Thompson in the report’s foreword.
Commission Vice-Chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), wrote in the preface:
“January 6, 2021 was the first time a president of the United States refused his constitutional obligation to peacefully transfer power to the next president,” Cheney wrote.
The first of eight chapters in the report is titled “The Big Lie,” a reference to repeated false claims that Trump won the election.
In that chapter, Trump “declared the electoral process even before Election Day,” by suggesting that it would be undermined by voter fraud, especially in relation to mail-in ballots whose use has been expanded due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he made efforts to legalize it.
In Chapter 2, entitled “I Just Want to Find 11,780 Vote,” Trump attempts to overthrow the Electoral College, the body that actually chooses the winner of a presidential election based on a candidate’s popular vote wins in each state. and two states.
The title comes from what President Trump said to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a phone call on January 2, 2021.
In that chapter, a widespread campaign by Trump and his allies to gain Republican-controlled Congresses in states Biden won to prevent them from certifying election results or to replace the Electoral College electoral rolls. campaigns are also detailed.
“The task force found that in the two months between the November election and the Jan. 6 riots, President Trump or his aides made at least 200 apparent public attacks targeting state legislators or representatives. or presumed to have engaged in acts of private outreach, pressure, or denunciation, or by local election officials to overturn state election results,” the report said.
“This includes at least: 68 meetings, attempted or connected phone calls, or text messages, each of which was directed at one or more state or local officials. 18 prominent public statements were directed at one or more such officials 125 social media outlets, expressly or impliedly, by President Trump or a senior adviser The posts were aimed at officials and were mostly from his own account,” the report said.
Trump supporters gather in front of the Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.
John Cherry | Getty Images
In the next chapter, how Trump and his allies aimed to get his replacement electoral rolls presented to Congress over the actual electoral rolls that Biden won, he told the Justice Department that the It outlines their efforts to question and persuade integrity. Then-Vice President Mike Pence refused to approve several states’ electoral college lists.
The plan to put pressure on Pence was meant to leave it to the House of Representatives to decide who would win the election. Even though Democrats had a majority of seats at the time, Republicans had a majority of state delegations, which could have given Trump the victory.
The final three chapters focus on the story leading up to the Capitol riot, Trump’s “inaction” in his duty by refusing to stop the mob, and an analysis of the attack on the Capitol.
Cheney said in the report’s foreword, “What most of the public didn’t know before our investigation was this.
“Donald Trump’s senior Justice Department officials, each appointed by Donald Trump himself, investigated the allegations and repeatedly said his fraud allegations were false,” Cheney wrote.
“Donald Trump’s White House attorney also told him his fraud claims were false. It was designed to prey on the patriotism of millions of men and women.”
In a series of social media posts, Trump called the selection committee’s report “very partisan” and repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
The January 6 committee, in its recommendations, urged the Senate to pass the Electoral Count Act, which the House had already approved. This law reaffirms that the Vice President has no power or discretion to reject the official list of presidential electors submitted by the Governor.
The panel also said that courts and attorney disciplinary bodies that regulate conduct by attorneys “need to continue to evaluate the conduct of attorneys described in this report.”
“Lawyers should not have the discretionary power to use legal licenses to undermine the constitutional and statutory processes for peacefully transferring power to our government,” the report said. says.
In a recommendation entitled “Violent Extremism,” the report states, “Federal agencies with intelligence and security missions, including the Secret Service, are developing a government-wide strategy to combat violent activity that comes from all. We have to deal with the threat,” he said. We will eliminate extremist groups, including white supremacist groups and violent opposition groups, while respecting the civil rights and First Amendment civil liberties of all citizens. ”
Sworn guardians of a militia group surrounded by supporters of US President Donald Trump on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, January 6, 2021.
Jim Berg | Reuters
The Jan. 6 panel has already begun sharing evidence with the DOJ, which last month appointed a special counsel to investigate whether Trump or others illegally obstructed the transfer of power to Biden. did.
Without Trump’s Encouragement, the January 6 Riots““If there was a presidential election, it would have been the normal transfer of power that happens every four years,” Thompson, chair of the committee, said in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday.
“Sometimes we win, some times we lose, but we must never destroy city hall, courts and the United States Capitol,” Thompson said. “I think it was unimaginable for most Americans…and there are still many who can’t understand why our people do it.
Both the Justice Department and House investigations are focused on the events of January 6, 2021, among others. In the incident, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers and Pence to flee Congress.
Vice President Mike Pence (R) is escorted by Sgt. Arms Michael Stenger (left) moves from the House of Representatives to the Senate after a challenge was raised during a joint session to recognize President-elect Joe Biden on January 6, 2021 in Washington, USA.
Mike Tyler | Reuters
The invasion disrupted a joint session of Congress that was being held to confirm Biden’s victory in the electoral college.
Pence, who presided over that session, resisted pressure from Trump and others to refuse to accept a slate of electoral colleges in several battleground states that gave Biden a margin of victory.
A House committee conducted more than 1,000 witness interviews, including interviews with Trump’s White House aides and attorneys, his adult children, and his close allies. compiled hundreds of thousands of documents as part of
Trump spread false allegations of election fraud before and after the 2020 election and pursued numerous attempts to reverse his defeat to Biden in the weeks after Election Day. campaign culminated in a rally outside the White House on January 6, 2021, where he urged crowds to march with him to the Capitol and pressure Congress to cancel the election results. urged.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters of The Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021.
Brendan Smiarowski | AFP | Getty Images
Trump didn’t march on the Capitol that day, but spent hours at the White House as his supporters attacked police officers inside and outside the Capitol and swarmed the halls of Congress. He did not publicly urge the mob to leave the Capitol until later that afternoon, despite being asked to do so by senior White House officials.
“You are the commander-in-chief. There is an attack on the Capitol in the United States, nothing?” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, testified before a House committee.
“No phone? Nothing? Zero?” Millie added.
In Monday’s vote, the committee referred Trump to the Justice Department for potential indictment of four crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and incitement to insurrection.
Separately, a grand jury in Georgia is gathering evidence in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office’s criminal investigation of Mr. Trump for trying to get Georgia election officials to reverse Mr. Biden’s victory.
Trump is also under criminal investigation by the DOJ for removing government documents, including classified documents, from the White House when he resigned as president.