The January 6 committee recommended charges against Donald Trump over the disturbance at the Capitol

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The US committee investigating the disturbance at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 has recommended charges against former president Donald Trump.

Key points: Donald Trump recommended for four criminal charges The Department of Justice is not required to act on the recommendation A full report of the select committee is expected to be released Thursday

In its final public hearing, the panel voted unanimously to refer the former president to the Department of Justice on four criminal counts.

These are obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and insurrection.

The department is conducting its own investigation on January 6 and has not been forced to act on the committee’s recommendations.

The committee made the case against Mr Trump in nine public hearings.

A preview of the select committee’s final report revealed some of the findings against Mr Trump, including:

Willfully spreading false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election. Corruptly persuading vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes. Attempting to enlist justice department officials to commit willful falsehoods. statement and thereby aid his efforts to overturn the presidential election Illegally forcing state officials and legislators to change the election results in their statesPlotting to overturn the election results

The full report is expected to be released on Thursday, Australiatime.

In the committee’s last public session, representative Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat, recounted Mr Trump’s relentless campaign of pressure aimed at getting vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to count the electoral votes and reject the nominee. of Democrat Joe Biden in his legal victory.

That legally questionable theory was pushed by John Eastman, a conservative law professor and Trump loyalist whose plan was derided by other lawyers in Mr Trump’s orbit.

Each member of the nine-member panel recalled different aspects of the 16-month investigation, including Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure his own justice department officials and Mr Pence to help bring down his defeat in the election.

When those efforts failed, the committee said, Mr Trump turned to his supporters, calling on them to march on the Capitol.

“President Trump lit the fire, he poured fuel on the fire and sat in the White House dining room for hours watching the fire. And now he’s still fanning those flames,” RepresentativeElaine Luriasaid.

The committee also referred four Republican House members, including Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, to the chamber’s ethics committee for failing to comply with its legal subpoenas as it investigated the attack.

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the USCapitol voted on four cases. (Reuters:Al Drago/Pool)

“If we are going to live as a nation of laws and democracy, this cannot happen again,” Representative Bennie Thompson, the select committee chairman, said as the meeting began.

Criticizing Mr Trump for summoning mobs to the Capitol nearly two years ago, Mr Thompson also criticized the former president for undermining faith in the democratic system.

“If faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump has broken that faith,” Mr Thompson said.

Mr Trump has already launched a campaign to seek the Republican nomination to run for the White House again in 2024.

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The work of the select committee was one of a series of investigations into the disturbance.

Five people, including a policeman, died during or shortly after the incident and more than 140 policemen were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

“Among the most embarrassing of this committee’s findings is that President Trump is sitting in the dining room outside the Oval Office, watching violent riots in the Capitol on television,” Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee and its vice-chairperson, said.

A jury has already found members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia guilty of sedition for their role in the attack.

Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed last month to lead the federal investigations into Mr Trump.

Mr Trump has faced a series of legal problems since leaving office.

His real estate company was convicted on December 6 of conducting a 15-year criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities.

Mr Trump has dismissed many of the investigations he faces as politically motivated. He said the January 6 committee, which is dominated by Democrats, was biased against him.

Former US president Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on September 3, 2022. (AP Photo: Mary Altaffer)

“The highly partisan Unselect Committee is illegally releasing confidential information to anyone who will listen,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform before the meeting.

“How long will Republicans, and American patriots in general, allow this to happen.”

The select committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans approved the report, including the charges recommendation, unanimously.

The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday (local time) to decide what to do with Mr Trump’s tax returns, which it obtained last month after a lengthy court battle.

Mr Trump is the first presidential candidate in decades not to release his tax returns during any of his presidential campaigns.

ABC/wires

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