The House Select Committee on Jan. 6 approved a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Monday, as the committee completes its 18-month attempt to push a predetermined political narrative while masquerading as a legitimate investigation.
Former President Donald Trump was referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution alongside five allies: former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Chesebro.
“Ours is not a system of justice where footsoldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass,” said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, unveiling agency referrals.
It will now be up to the Justice Department, which is run by rabid partisan Merrick Garland, to determine whether to follow through with prosecution. Former President Trump is already under another politicized investigation from the department with a special counsel probing whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act.
Monday’s criminal referrals accuse Trump of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, defraud the United States, make false statements to federal officials, and “incite” an insurrection linked to the events on Jan. 6, 2021.
Raskin, who objected to the certification of electoral votes in 2016, also announced four GOP colleagues will be referred to the House Ethics Committee for refusal to comply with the panel’s subpoenas. While Raskin did not name the members recommended for congressional sanctions, the committee subpoenaed GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
“An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the United States. … [The Constitution] uses participation in insurrection by office-holders as automatic grounds for disqualification from ever holding public office again,” Raskin added, revealing the true purpose of the probe’s investigation all along.
The Select Committee was established in the aftermath of Democrats’ failed efforts to secure a conviction of President Trump through a snap impeachment. Even though Trump was no longer in office when he went on trial in the upper chamber for the second time, a guilty vote would have barred him from running for office in 2024. Trump announced his candidacy for a second term last month.
In October, the panel wrapped up its final public hearing with a performative subpoena of Trump to close out its pre-election show trials. The committee secured a series of indictments of former officials from the Trump administration over the summer, including Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and strategist Steve Bannon.
Bannon was ultimately sentenced to four months in federal prison after his refusal to comply with a committee subpoena provoked contempt of Congress charges, which were subsequently approved by the full lower chamber in October. Bannon has since appealed his sentence.
Navarro, who has also pled not guilty to the same charges, will go on trial in early January.
The Select Committee on Jan. 6 is expected to release its final report later this week complete with an “interactive version.”
House Republicans conducting their own investigation of the Capitol riot will release another report. The GOP report will be published without access to material from the official Select Committee after Speaker Nancy Pelosi barred multiple members appointed by the minority party from the panel, for the first time in the chamber’s history.
