Jan 6 Committee Will Recommend the Justice Department Indict Trump

Back in June, the Democratic Chairman of the January 6 Committee, Rep. Bernie Thompson, told reporters that there would be no criminal referrals coming from his committee.

“Our job is to look at the facts and circumstances around January 6 — what caused it — and make recommendations after that,” he said. When asked specifically if there would be a criminal referral from the committee, Thompson said flatly, “We don’t have authority.”

Well, Santa came early to Capitol Hill and left a nice Christmas present for the Democrats: the authority to refer Donald Trump to the Justice Department for prosecution. Santa is a very clever man since he can pull the authority to criminally refer a president out of thin air. Perhaps if he puts his mind to it, he can make the $31 trillion federal deficit disappear.

Prosecution of what, no one is quite sure yet. But you can bet they’ll come up with something.

Related: Staff of January 6 Committee Angry at Liz Cheney for Her Intense Focus on Trump in Final Report

“The committee continues to meet. [We have a] meeting upcoming, and decision points to be made,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said, per NBC. “We will announce anything we have likely as a part of our final report.”

That “final report” is due out Dec. 21, and Thompson is indicating that any criminal referrals will be revealed at that point.

Washington Examiner:

Committee members have been strongly contemplating a criminal referral for former President Donald Trump for his actions surrounding the Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to reports. Echoing Thompson, Aguilar stressed that decisions on criminal referrals have not yet been finalized.

“We haven’t finalized any decisions yet. Our options are on the table. Referrals to outside agencies are possible and as soon as the committee finishes our work moving forward to sharing our results,” Aguilar added.

Such referrals have no legal weight, as it will be up to law enforcement agencies to decide whether to pursue criminal charges.

While the referrals carry no legal weight, they are being referred to the most politicized Justice Department in American history. Trump will be indicted and perhaps named as the organizer and driving force behind the “insurrection.”

As it is, they are probably going to try and criminalize his efforts to fight the certification of the electoral college vote.

CNN:

The decision of whether to issue criminal referrals has loomed large over the committee. Members on the panel have been in wide agreement that Trump and some of his closest allies have committed a crime when he pushed a conspiracy to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, as they’ve laid out in their hearings. But they have long been split over what to do about it, including whether to make a criminal referral of Trump to the Justice Department.

In the past, the question has led to a vigorous, at times contentious, debate among committee members, sources have said. Those who previously said criminal referrals are not necessary to close out the panel’s investigation say the committee lacks prosecutorial powers, and that the Justice Department does not need Congress to investigate crimes as it has its own criminal investigations into the Capitol attack that are ongoing.

Still, the idea of a criminal referral of Trump, even if entirely symbolic in nature, has hung like a shadow over the panel since it was first formed, and many members felt it was a necessary measure in order to complete its work.

So it’s “symbolic” but “necessary”? This whole thing screams partisan politics and to pretend that it’s anything else is moronic.