According to reports, the January 6 Select Committee will vote to make three criminal referrals targeting former President Donald Trump for criminal prosecution on Monday (December 19).
The reports surfaced on multiple news outlets on Friday (December 16), suggesting the Committee would recommend the Department of Justice pursue criminal charges against the former President.
The reports state that the Committee will recommend Trump be charged criminally for conspiracy to defraud the United States, insurrection, and obstructing an official proceeding of Congress.
Although no Committee member has remarked on the validity of the claims, the panel is wrapping up its investigation and report before the year ends, and the incoming Republican majority is set to dissolve the panel.
If the Committee does move ahead with referrals, they will be largely symbolic as the DOJ is not obligated to act on Congressional referrals. Besides, the Department of Justice is already conducting an investigation into January 6 and the events surrounding it.
According to reporting from Politico, citing sources, the Committee will be basing its recommendation about the insurrection charge on a February ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta.
Mehta’s ruling assets the language the former President used incited an insurrection.
The panel is also leaning on the 57 Senators who voted to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection following the January 6 riot.
According to reporting by The Hill, a spokesperson for Trump renounced the work of the January 6 Committee, calling it a “vanity documentary project” insulting the intelligence of Americans.
