Insight
House Committee likely to recommend charging Donald Trump over January 6 riot
Today is a blockbuster day for Congress and - in all the wrong ways - for Donald Trump.
As it wraps up for the year, and before the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next month, there is unfinished business.
In it’s final act, the House Committee investigating the attempted insurrection of January 6th is likely to recommend criminal charges against Trump.
To be clear, it’s up to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to file those charges. But Congress can make a referral or recommendation.
The House Committee is likely to suggest the following charges against the former president:
Insurrection
Obstruction of an official proceeding
Conspiracy to defraud the US government
The criminal referrals will cover Trump’s involvement in both the riot of January 6th and the attempt to stop Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election result.
Watch ITV News US Correspondent Robert Moore's report from Washington DC on January 6 in full
Republicans are certain to disband the committee as soon as they take over in January. So this is an attempt by Democrats to ensure that Trump’s allies can never erase the investigative work of the January 6th Committee. By Wednesday, everything will be in the public domain.
This is likely to be a grim week for Trump and his allies.
Another House committee is deciding what to do with his tax returns. Federal and state prosecutors are circling around his business interests and his handling of classified documents.
In the weeks since Trump declared his candidacy for the presidential election in 2024 his campaign has gone from bad to worse.
Today is likely to amount to the biggest blow yet. Not fatal. Perhaps the Department of Justice will decide not to arrest or charge Trump.
Perhaps his claims of martyrdom and political persecution will appeal to his core followers.
But to have a House Committee recommend criminal charges against a former president is a devastating assessment of his conduct.
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