A congressional inquiry into last year’s Capitol riots will reportedly recommend three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
According to JEE News, a select committee of the House of Representatives will look into unprecedented charges of treason against the former US president.
The panel is expected to publish its final report next week.
Trump supporters stormed Congress in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden as president on January 6, 2021.
The Justice Department — which is already investigating Mr. Trump’s role in the unrest — is not obligated to consider the referrals from any congressional panel.
Mr Trump denies wrongdoing. His spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement on Friday: “On January 6, the unelected committee once held show trials of Trump supporters that are a stain on this country’s history.”
The select committee will hold its final meeting on Monday when any charging recommendations will be unveiled.
Along with the coup, according to various outlets, the panel will recommend that Mr. Trump be charged with obstruction of government and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The nine panelists are expected to approve a final eight-chapter report containing more than 1,000 witness interviews and submit it to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Benny Thompson, chairman of the Mississippi Democrat, said the full report would be released Wednesday.
Another panel member, California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, told JEE News on Friday that lawmakers have been “very careful in crafting these [charging] recommendations and connecting them to the facts that we’ve uncovered.” “.
The House Select Committee has argued that Mr. Trump spread false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, before pressuring state officials, the Justice Department and his vice president to help end his defeat. The panel accused him of inciting capital riots in a last-ditch bid to stay in power.
The DOJ is already investigating the then-Republican president’s riot-related actions.
Seven days after the congressional raid, the House impeached Mr. Trump for a second time on the grounds of sedition.
Mr Trump, the only president to be impeached twice, was cleared by the US Senate.
Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a former war crimes prosecutor to decide whether Mr Trump should be tried.
Jack Smith is tasked with determining whether the 2024 presidential candidate is guilty of mishandling classified files recovered during an FBI search of Mr. Trump’s Florida estate in August or January 6, 2021. should be prosecuted for inciting a violent mob.
