After 18 months of work and analysis of thousands of documents and testimonies, the parliamentary committee investigating the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 unanimously asked this Monday launch a criminal case against former President Donald Trump.
The House panel recommended that the Justice Department indict Trump on four counts: insurrection, obstruction of official process, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to lie, so you could face prison and the withdrawal of his right to be a presidential candidate.
While the recommendation is not binding, and Special Investigator Jack Smith will have to decide what steps to take, the decision is unprecedented: Congress has never referred a criminal case against a current or former president to the government.
It is also a blow to Trump, 76, who has already announced his run for the White House in 2024 and may be disabled.
The accusation
Whether or not Trump is ultimately impeached, the committee’s vote underlines that the tycoon should be disqualified from holding future office.
The commission, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, analyzed for a year and a half the actions of that day in which five people died when a crowd of Trump supporters, encouraged by false claims by the then president that the election had been stolen , he forcibly entered the Capitol to suspend the inauguration of the elected Joe Biden.
About 900 people were arrested in that attack, which included the looting and vandalism of the building, which had to be abandoned by lawmakers amid violence and smoke.
On Monday, the commission concluded its investigation and voted unanimously to bring those four charges against Trump, after the vice chair of the panel, Liz Cheney, accused the former Republican president of “blatant negligence” for failing to try to stop immediately the riots and stated that “He’s not fit for any office.” “Nobody acting like that at the time may once again occupy a position of authority in our nationhe has declared.
“The committee has gathered significant evidence that President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power as required by our constitution,” committee member Jamie Raskin said shortly before the vote, noting that the documentation supported the request for a criminal trial.
The prosecutor
Members of Congress can’t press charges themselves, but they can recommend doing so to the Justice Department, which has already assigned Smith to investigate Trump’s role in the riots. Already this independent prosecutor he began his own investigation which runs parallel to that of the committee.
The plenary believes that Trump “oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated plan to reverse the presidential election and avoid the transfer of power”. Investigators say the plot began with the Trump campaign spreading allegations it knew were false that the election was rigged.
Trump is also alleged to have summoned and rallied crowds in Washington and directed them towards the Capitol despite knowing they were armed with assault rifles, handguns and other weapons.
And for hours, he ignored calls from his aides to take steps to end the violence, according to lawmakers. Trump was “at the center” of “a coup attempt,” said the committee’s head, Rep. Bennie Thompson.
The committee also called for the prosecution of close aides of the former president during that time, such as attorney John Eastman. The commission’s final report will be released on Wednesday.
The Trump campaign responded to the vote with a statement attacking the commission’s legitimacy: “The January 6 Unelected Committee held show trials for Never-Trump supporters who are a blot on the history of this country. This Kangaroo Cut it was nothing more than a vanity project that insults the intelligence of Americans and makes fun of our democracy,” they said.
This week will be very difficult for Trump. Following Monday’s vote, Congress is expected to announce Tuesday whether or not to release the tycoon’s tax returns, finally obtained after nearly four years of legal efforts by Trump to block their release.
On Wednesday 6 January, the commission will present its final report, which will be divided into eight chapters, with the eight themes into which they divided their 10 auditions.
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.