Trump should be called to account: lawmakers

Criminal referrals to Justice Department made over 2020 election and aftermath

The US House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has voted to send to the Justice Department a recommendation for possible prosecution that former president Donald Trump be charged with four crimes related to his attempt to overturn the presidential election of 2020.

The four criminal referrals include obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to make false statements and incitement of an insurrection.

The Justice Department is not legally bound to act on the referrals, the first time in US history that Congress has made such a move relating to a former president.

Key findings in the committee's 18-month investigation include allegations that Trump disseminated false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 election, provoking his supporters to violence the following Jan 6, according to the executive summary, which the committee issued after it met on Monday.

"We understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy that we describe in our report, but we have gone where the facts and the law lead us, and inescapably they lead us here," said Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin.

The panel referred five other Trump allies for potential prosecution for actions the committee said warranted Justice Department investigation: Mark Meadows, Trump's final chief of staff, and lawyers Rudolph Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Chesebro. The charges could carry lengthy prison sentences if federal prosecutors choose to pursue them.

During Monday's meeting, the committee played new video footage of an interview in October with Hope Hicks, a longtime adviser to Trump, who described unsuccessful efforts to have him tone down his rhetoric about the election result.

New video footage

In a video clip, she said that after the election she became increasingly concerned that Trump's falsehoods about it were damaging his legacy.

"Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose," she said Trump told her. "So that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning."

The committee also presented messages exchanged between Hicks and Hogan Gidley, another adviser to Trump, while the Jan 6 attack was occurring.

"Hey. I know you're seeing this. But he really should tweet something about being nonviolent," Gidley said in a message.

"I'm not there," Hicks responded. "I suggested it several times Monday and Tuesday and he refused."

Chairman Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, said the criminal justice system can provide accountability.

"We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a road map to justice."

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican Trump critic, said Trump was at least partly responsible for the deadly attack on the Capitol.

"No man is above the law," Hogan told The Associated Press shortly before the committee's vote.

The divergent responses are a sign of how quickly the political landscape has shifted for Trump as he faces a new legal threat and vies for the presidency again. It is a marked change for a party that has been defined, above all, by its unconditional loyalty to Trump for the past six years.

In response to the recommendation, Trump accused House lawmakers of recommending "fake charges" against him as part of an attempt to prevent him from running for the White House again.

"The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax #2," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. "I WON convincingly."

The committee also voted 9-0 to approve its final report, which will include findings, interview transcripts and legislative recommendations. The full report is expected to be published on Wednesday.

The committee, which will be dissolved on Jan 3 with the new Republican-controlled House, has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, held 10 public hearings and collected more than a million documents since it was established in July last year.

Agencies contributed to this story.

AI HEPING in New York

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com