Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said on Sunday that they had found enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal charge against former President Donald Trump in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. .
The committee announced that Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify Monday in a hearing that focuses on Trump’s effort to spread his lies about a stolen election.
Stepien was cited by his public testimony.
Riots, violence and deaths after the assault on the Capitol
As the hearings unfold, MP Adam Schiff said he would like the department to “investigate any credible allegations of criminal activity by Donald Trump.”
Schiff, D-Calif., Who also heads the House Intelligence Committee, said that “there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to cancel the election that I do not see. evidence that the Department of Justice is investigating. “
The committee launched its public hearings last week, with members presenting their case against Trump to show how the ousted president pushed back his false claims of a rigged election despite several advisers saying otherwise. and how he stepped up an extraordinary plan to nullify Joe Biden’s victory. .
Additional evidence is expected to be released at this week’s hearings that will show how Trump and some of his advisers made a “massive effort” to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to accept his false claims and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence. to reject state voters and block voting certification on January 6, 2021.
Caliph Democrat MP Adam Schiff listens as House select committee investigating Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol holds first public hearing to reveal findings of one-year investigation . (AP)
Stepien, a longtime ally of Trump, is now one of the top campaign advisers to Trump-backed Housewife in the Republican primary in Wyoming, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging the MP.
Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee and an overwhelming critic of the former chair.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich suggested the committee’s decision to call Stepien was politically motivated.
Monday’s list of witnesses also includes BJay Pak, Atlanta’s chief federal prosecutor, who resigned on January 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was released in which Trump described him as “May-Trumper”; Chris Stirewalt, former Fox News political editor; noted Washington Election Attorney Benjamin Ginsberg; and Al Schmidt, a former Philadelphia City Commissioner.
The panel will also focus on the millions of dollars the Trump team contributed to fundraising before Jan. 6, according to a committee aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details.
The committee said most of the interviewees in the investigation volunteered, although some wanted the citations to appear in public.
An image of a simulated force is shown on the grounds of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. (AP)
Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last week’s hearing that he received a subpoena to appear.
Committee members said they would present clear evidence that “multiple” Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, had asked Trump to pardon him, which would protect him from prosecution.
Perry on Friday denied he had ever done so, calling the statement an “absolute, shameless, soulless lie.”
“We will not make accusations or say things without evidence or evidence to support it,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Lawmakers indicated that perhaps his most important audience throughout the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump.
Insurgents loyal to President Donald Trump meet in front of the United States Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. (AP)
They left no doubt as to their own opinion as to whether the evidence is sufficient to continue.
“Once the evidence is accumulated by the Department of Justice, it must make a decision on whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the president or anyone else,” Schiff said.
“But they have to investigate if there’s credible evidence, which I think is.”
Deputy Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Said he did not intend to “upset” Garland, but noted that the committee has already filed criminal statutes in criminal offenses that he believes Trump violated.
“I think he knows, his staff knows, American lawyers know what’s at stake here,” Raskin said.
“They know the importance of this, but I think they are rightly paying close attention to the precedents of history, as well as the facts of this case.”
The rioters try to break through a police barrier at the Washington Capitol on January 6, 2021. (AP)
Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and could be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again.
No president or former president has ever been charged.
Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 when he faced a dismissal and a probable prosecution by the grand jury on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any Watergate-related criminal charges could be filed.
Legal experts have said that a Trump Justice Department prosecution for the riot could set an awkward precedent in which one party administration could more routinely prosecute the former president of another.
The mutineers call the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington. The January 6, 2021, uprising at the United States Capitol was seen around the world. But the House committee investigating the attack believes a more gruesome story has yet to be told. (AP Photo / Julio Cortez) (AP)
“We will follow the facts wherever they take us,” Garland said in his speech at the Harvard University graduation ceremony last month.
A California federal judge said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump “most likely not” committed federal crimes in an attempt to obstruct Congress from counting Electoral College ballots on January 6, 2021. .
The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of official proceedings and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Trump has denied all allegations.