Representative Adam Schiff hears how the select committee of the House investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation on Capitol Hill on 9 June. Andrew Harnik / The Associated Press
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 the campaign director of Mr. Trump, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify Monday in a hearing that focuses on Mr. Trump to spread his lies about a stolen election. Mr. Stepien was summoned by his public testimony.
As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to “investigate any credible allegations of criminal activity by Donald Trump.” Mr. 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 held its first public hearing last week, with members exposing their case against Trump to show how the defeated president has steadily pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite several advisers telling him the contrary and how he intensified an extraordinary plan to cancel. Joe Biden’s victory.
Additional evidence will be published this week in hearings showing how Mr. Trump and some of his advisers made a “massive effort” to spread the misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to accept his false claims, and urged the then vice president. Mike Pence will reject state voters and block voting certification on January 6, 2021.
Jan. 6 committee blames Donald Trump for “coup attempt” at U.S. Capitol during prime-time hearing
The January 6 hearing, at prime time, was an exciting portrayal of Donald Trump as the mastermind of the election cancellation effort.
Mr. Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a campaign adviser to Harriet Hageman, a Republican primary candidate in the Wyoming Republican primary, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice president. and a lawyer’s critique of the above. president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee’s decision to call Mr. Stepien had political motivations.
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 Mr. Trump called him “never-trumper” and Chris. Stirewalt, the former political editor of Fox News.
The committee said most of the interviewees in the investigation volunteered, although some wanted the citations to appear in public. 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” GOP lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Scott Perry, had asked for forgiveness from Mr. Trump, who would protect him from prosecution. On Friday, Mr Perry denied ever having done so, calling the statement an “absolute, shameless and 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 Mr. Trump. 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.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Said he did not intend to “confront” Mr. Garland, however, noted that the committee has already established criminal statutes in criminal offenses that they believe Trump violated.
“I think he knows, his staff knows it, U.S. lawyers know, what’s at stake here,” Mr. Raskin. “They know the importance of this, but I think they are rightly paying close attention to the precedents of the story as well as the facts of this case.”
Mr. Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which is unprecedented and can be complicated in a political election season in which Mr. 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 prosecution by the Justice Department of Mr. Trump for the riot could set an awkward precedent in which one party administration could go more routinely after another former president.
“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 Mr. Trump “most likely not” committed federal crimes in an attempt to obstruct Congress from counting Electoral College ballot papers on January 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official procedure and conspiracy to scam in the United States. Mr. Trump has denied all allegations.
Mr. Schiff appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Raskin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” and Mr. Kinzinger was on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
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