After a year and a half of work, subpoenaing more than 100 people, conducting more than 1,000 surveys and conducting 12 public hearings, the House Committee on the January 6, 2021 events voted unanimously to send criminal evidence of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice.
Before the nine-member panel, the only president in history to be impeached twice by the House (but approved by the Senate) is expected to face charges of obstruction of an official congressional proceeding – the certification of votes -, conspiracy to defraud the United States , conspiracy to make false statements and insurrection. Despite being a recommendation, meaning without binding force, it puts pressure on the Attorney General to move forward, at a time when the former president’s cases amassed and the results of the midterm elections cast doubt on Republicans about his political future.
In the second impeachment trial, Representatives and Senators charged Donald Trump with “incitement to insurrection” (but there was no two-thirds majority for conviction). Now the conclusions are different: “At the committee hearings, we presented evidence of what became a multi-part plan to overturn the election. That evidence led to a clear and unequivocal conclusion: The central cause of January 6 was one man, former President Trump, followed by many others. None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him,” reads the more than 100-page summary of the final report, which will be made public tomorrow.
United States law provides that “anyone who incites, undertakes, assists, or participates in an insurrection or insurrection against the authority of the United States or its laws, or assists or encourages it,” risks imprisonment for up to ten years and is barred from holding public office.
“We are confident that the work of this committee will help justice by providing a roadmap,” said panel chair Bennie Thompson. “A complete moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty,” Republican Liz Cheney summed up Trump’s inaction as she watched the violence on television.
During the final session, the representatives’ final interventions were supplemented with videos of the balance of what happened between the businessman’s electoral defeat and the attempt to undermine the presidential transition. And there were revelations. Such is the case with the statements of former Trump adviser Hope Hicks. He said he had expressed concern about his legacy to the Republican, to which he replied, “No one will care about my legacy if I lose. All that matters is winning.”
During Election Day, November 3, 2020 and January 6, 2021, when the invasion of the Capitol led to the deaths of seven people, including intruders and security guards, and injured 140 police officers, Donald Trump was a leader not only to have his followers revolt , but also in fundraising. the campaign of emails to his supporters who claimed the vote was “rigged” and that donations could help Republicans prevent Democrats from “trying to steal the election,” which would happen to an “illegitimate president” — Joe Biden — if he takes office, about 250 million earned dollars.
The decision to indict the former president rests with Attorney General Merrick Garland. The latter, in turn, decided a month ago to appoint Jack Smith, former war crimes prosecutor in The Hague, as special prosecutor to oversee investigations related to Trump. In addition to its role in post-election events, the Justice Department is investigating the handling of presidential documents and secret materials illegally brought from the White House to his residence in Florida.
Two weeks ago, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud in a Manhattan case, amounting to up to $1.6 million in fines. However, the New York Attorney General continues to investigate Trump for fraud.
Proud Boys leader rightly so
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members will face trial in Washington on January 6, 2021 for their role in the attempted uprising. obstructing official proceedings.” The jury selection comes two weeks after Stewart Rhodes, founder of another militia, Oath Keepers, and another militant, Kelly Meggs, were convicted of seditious conspiracy, which could carry up to 20 years in prison. former Proud Boys leader, Jeremy Joseph Bertino, pleaded guilty to that crime and was able to testify against Tarrio and the others under a cooperation agreement.
The crime of seditious conspiracy was enacted in the US at the end of the Civil War to prevent attacks on the government. Egyptian cleric Abdel-Rahman and nine followers were last convicted of this charge in 1995 as a result of investigations into the World Trade Center attack.
According to an Associated Press investigation, 931 people have been charged so far with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol; of these, 521 were convicted and of those, 193 were serving or are serving prison terms.
Source: DN
