What To Watch As Jan. 6 Panel Cites Trump’s ‘Attempted Coup’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol riot Will make it final public presentation Monday The extraordinary effort of Donald Trump to reverse the 2020 results in the presidential election that he lost, It was referred to by the committee as an “attempted coup” That warrants criminal prosecution from the Justice Department.

That is expected to be the committee’s closing argument as it wraps up a year-and-a-half-long inquiry and prepares to release a final report detailing its findings about the insurrection in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. This year will see the dissolution of the seven-member committee made up of two Republicans and seven Democrats.

Monday’s meeting will be the committee’s 11th public session since forming in July 2021. More than 20,000,000 people viewed the June 9 hearing.

What to watch for in Monday’s meeting at 1 p.m. EST:

According to legislators, the committee should make civil and criminal referrals against former President and his associates who broke the law and committed ethics violations.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the referrals may include criminal, ethics violations, legal misconduct and campaign finance violations. In particular, lawmakers suggested that Trump’s recommended charges could be conspiracy to defraud and obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) stated Sunday that Trump has committed many crimes. Schiff specifically mentioned insurrection. “if you look at Donald Trump’s acts and you match them up against the statute, it’s a pretty good match.”

“This is someone who in multiple ways tried to pressure state officials to find votes that didn’t exist, this is someone who tried to interfere with a joint session, even inciting a mob to attack the Capitol,” Schiff told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If that’s not criminal then I don’t know what it is.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said last week that the committee’s actions will focus on “key players” When there’s sufficient evidence, or plenty of evidence, that the accused committed a crime.

Federal prosecutors will decide whether or not to file charges. Although they do not have any binding effect, these recommendations would be a political boost for the Justice Department. special counsel Jack Smith Conducts an investigation on Jan. 6 and Trump’s actions.

Monday’s meeting could include ethics referrals for fellow lawmakers.

“We will also be considering what’s the appropriate remedy for members of Congress who ignore a congressional subpoena, as well as the evidence that was so pertinent to our investigation and why we wanted to bring them in,” Schiff stated. “We have weighed what is the remedy for members of Congress. Is it a criminal referral to another branch of government, or is it better that the Congress police its own?”

He indicated that ethics referrals were also considered by the committee and they will share their decisions Monday.

Legislators who did not comply with subpoenas from the Jan. 6 committee Included Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican Leader of California; and Scott Perry, the Pennsylvania GOP Rep., Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, Arizona, Mo Brooks, Alabama.

Lawmakers have promised that Monday’s session will include a preview of the committee’s final report, expected to be released Wednesday. Voting on the adoption of the official record will allow the panel to authorize the publication of the report to public.

The eight-chapter report will include hundreds of pages of findings about the attack and Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy, drawing on what the committee learned through its interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses.

This will be in a similar format to the previous public hearings held by the committee in the summer. These detailed various aspects of investigation, including extremist group involvement in violence on January. 6, Trump’s attempt to enlist the Justice Department in his schemes and Trump’s coordination with GOP lawmakers to overturn the election results.

Further evidence including the vast trove of testimony and video footage that the committee accumulated is likely to be made public before the end.

The anticipation for the final report’s release is high. Pre-release copies of the final report are available from book publishers.

As The committee meets for the final time. A major legislative response could be swiftly achieved.

The lawmakers will likely overhaul Trump’s ambiguous election law by including legislative modifications in the year-end spending bill.

Revisions are proposed for the Electoral Count Act One of many Jan. 6 Attack on Capitol The legislation has been being worked on by a bipartisan group of lawmakers since the uprising. Trump and his allies tried to find loopholes The law was passed before Congress certified the 2020 vote. In it, Biden defeated the president and the former President tried unsuccessfully to get Pence to agree to his victory.

If passed, the bill would amend 19th-century law, which, together with the Constitution governs how Congress certifies electors. It also declares winners of the presidential election. This ensures that the popular vote in each state can be protected against manipulation, and that Congress doesn’t arbitrarily determine presidential elections.

In its final report, the committee will also release their own legislative recommendations. These include ideas to improve and extend the safeguards that allowed for the 2021 certification of the Electoral College.

The Jan. 6 committee has strived to build a record for history and deepen the public’s understanding of what led to the Capitol attack and the individuals involved in it.

“We obviously want to complete the story for the American people,” Raskin stated. “Everybody has come on a journey with us and we want a satisfactory conclusion, such that people feel that Congress has done its job.”

After conducting thousands of interviews — ranging from Trump Cabinet secretaries to members of his own family — and obtaining tens of thousands of documents, congressional investigators say they have created the most comprehensive look at the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries.

However, the 16-month long investigation provided some kind of a guideline for criminal investigations. This influenced Jan’s and Trump’s probes. 6 They are making progress at all levels: the state, local and federal.

It is not clear whether or not the Justice Department will take action with Trump’s announcement that he would be running for president in 2024. Schiff was concerned that federal prosecutors might be slow in moving on criminal charges, as Trump remains politically relevant. “I think he should face the same remedy, force of law, that anyone else would,” Schiff stated.

Still, Monday’s session remains the last word for the committee as its temporary, or “select,” The current Congress expires the status of a committee.

Once Republicans take the majority next year, they are not expected to renew the committee, instead launching a slew of investigations that will focus on the Biden administration and the president’s family.

Mary Clare Jalonick (Associated Press) contributed to this article.