The Jan. 6 Panel’s Christmas Gift: a Criminal Referral for Trump
In what will likely be its final meeting, the House’s Jan. 6 Committee on Monday put an exclamation point on nearly 18 months of work: it approved four federal criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump.
During their hearing, the select committee’s seven Democrats and two Republicans summarized their forthcoming final report, which includes recommendations that the Department of Justice charge Trump for inciting or assisting an insurrection, obstructing an official proceeding, and committing conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
The report also includes a criminal referral for John Eastman, the Trump lawyer behind the legal strategy to keep Trump in office. It will also refer four Republican members of Congress—who were not named during Monday’s hearing—to the House Ethics Committee for refusing the committee’s subpoenas. Five Republican lawmakers were subpoenaed by the committee in May: Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Scott Perry (R-PA), Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ). (McCarthy is the House GOP leader; Brooks is retiring.)