Jan. 6 Committee Has Finalized Plans to Issue ‘At Least Three’ Criminal Referrals for Trump to DOJ: Report

Sarah RumpfDec 18th, 2022, 9:44 pm
 

Former President Donald Trump has had a rough month, and it seems likely to get worse on Monday. The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack will be issuing “at least three” criminal referrals for him to the Department of Justice, according to a report by NBC News.

Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali tweeted the news Sunday afternoon, noting that the committee had met earlier in the day to “finalize plans” to issue the criminal referrals when they have their last public meeting on Monday.

In a subsequent tweet, Vitali noted that she and her colleagues, Kate Santaliz and Haley Talbot, had “overheard” the plans while outside the committee’s meeting, after “[a] source familiar with the committee’s plans told NBC News about the meeting and its location in the Capitol complex.”

According to their reporting, committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said that he believed the criminal referrals were “warranted,” and the committee’s discussions were intended as a “rehearsal” for the public hearing on Monday, which will be televised and live-streamed online.

The three criminal referrals for Trump will reportedly include obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government, and inciting or assisting an insurrection. The committee is also expected to refer multiple GOP members of Congress for their refusal to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress for his own noncompliance with the committee’s subpoena.

A congressional committee’s criminal referrals are not legally binding, and the decision about whether or not to actually charge the ex-president or any other person with a crime.

The committee’s final meeting will be on Monday at 1:00 pm ET, and they are expected to release their report to be available for the public on Wednesday.

Trump appeared to react to the news Sunday evening in a Truth Social post that echoed many of the complaints found in the series of posts he wrote in the morning.

 

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.