Iran Press/ America: It had been widely expected the panel would recommend charges against Donald Trump for obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The panel’s members had already argued in federal court that they believed it was likely that he committed those two felonies. But the addition of an accusation of insurrection was a new development.
The House impeached Trump last year for incitement of insurrection, and the members of the panel have long argued Trump was the central figure who fomented an insurrection against the United States as he sought to cling to power.
Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the Jan. 6 committee tasked with studying possible criminal referrals, was the lead impeachment manager against Trump on the count of incitement of insurrection.
Referrals against Trump, which the committee is slated to approve as part of its report, would not carry any legal weight or compel the Justice Department to take any action, but they would send a powerful signal that a congressional committee believes the former president committed certain crimes.
In a statement, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, dismissed the panel as a “kangaroo court” that held “show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history.”
The committee also was set to consider whether to issue criminal and civil referrals for some of Trump’s top allies during a meeting scheduled for Monday as it prepares to release a voluminous report laying out its findings about the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Members also were expected to discuss the forthcoming report and recommendations for legislative changes.
Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, has said the panel was considering referrals to “five or six” different entities, including the Justice Department, the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, and bar associations.
In addition to the former president, the panel is likely to consider referring charges against John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who was an architect of Trump’s efforts to invalidate his electoral defeat. The committee has argued in court that Eastman most likely violated two federal laws for his role in the scheme, including obstructing an official act of Congress and defrauding the American public.
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