Since the suggestions are non-binding, they serve primarily as a symbol.
On Monday, the House January 6 Committee agreed to propose that former President Donald Trump be charged by the Justice Department in connection with the disturbance on January 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol.
In the end, the committee convened by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) voted to recommend that Trump be charged with impeding an official action, conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to make false statements to the federal government, and inciting an uprising.
Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) stated in his opening remarks that Trump “lost the 2020 election and knew it, but he chose to attempt to stay in office via a multi-part conspiracy to reverse the results and obstruct the transition of power.” “Finally, he called a mob to Washington, knowing full well that they would arrive armed and ready to take no prisoners, and he directed their attention on the Capitol building, telling them to “fight like hell.” There is absolutely no room for debate here.
Since the suggestions are nonbinding, they serve more as a gesture. The Department of Justice is not required to follow the committee’s recommendations.
The committee also agreed to refer four lawmakers to the House Ethics Committee for failing to cooperate with subpoenas and its referrals to the Justice Department.
On Monday, the committee will finish the job it started in July 2021. It interviewed over a thousand people to convince the Justice Department and the American public that Trump is to blame for the January 6 violence. It staged ten highly publicized hearings throughout the summer.
Seven Democratic and two Republican congressmen conducted the probe. After Pelosi rejected many of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) nominations to sit on the committee, McCarthy refused to work with the group. Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching Trump on January 6, including Wyoming’s Liz Cheney and Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger, then offered to serve on the committee with Democrats.
Trump’s predecessor has been a vociferous opponent of the committee’s work, seeing it as a continuation of the “witch hunt” that began against him in 2016 when FBI counterintelligence investigators looked into baseless claims that Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russian operatives.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the committee a “kangaroo court” before Monday’s vote. During the summer, he reportedly referred to its proceedings as “show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a blight on this country’s history,” as The New York Times reported.
Trump responded to the committee that issued the subpoena for the former president to appear in a lengthy (14-page) document in October.
“This memo is being sent to voice our outrage, disgust, and frustration with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider a Charade and Witch Hunt,” Trump added.
Multiple federal and state agencies are looking into Trump’s business dealings, including a special counsel probe by Jack Smith, a former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Smith had served as special counsel since last month when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him. Smith is now in charge of the Department of Justice investigation into Trump’s inauguration on January 6, 2021, as well as the investigation into the possible storage of sensitive materials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.