Monday night, the chair of the House Committee investigating the Capitol Riot said that no criminal referrals will be made by the panel. This is despite previous hints from its leaders.
After the second day’s public hearings, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) stated that his job was to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding January 6, and make recommendations.
Thompson answered, “We don’t have the authority” when Thompson was asked about the matter and whether or not the committee had ruled out criminal charges being referred, especially for former President Donald Trump.
However, Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chair of the committee suggested that a decision wasn’t yet made.
“The committee has not reached a conclusion about potential criminal referrals. She said that the committee would announce a decision at a suitable time.
In a separate tweet, Elaine Luria (D-Va.) stated that the committee had not voted on criminal referrals.
She stated that “if criminal activity occurs, it is our responsibility report that activity the DOJ.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (one of three California Democrats) also spoke out during Monday’s CNN interview. He said, “We haven’t had a conversation about that, so we don’t know if the committee has reached any position on whether or not we make a referal. I thought that we were deferring that decision till we conclude our investigation.”
Although Democrats hoped that the congressional hearings would lead the Democrats to criminal prosecutions of their constituents, referring criminal cases to the Justice Department instead of inciting the Justice Department to take action comes with the risk that the entire investigation will appear political.
Thompson’s Monday remarks contrast with earlier suggestions suggesting that criminal referrals may be possible.
Thompson stated in an article published this past year that the evidence gathered 2021 pointed to Congress asking the Justice Department for its work to be used as the basis of prosecutions.
He stated that there is potential for criminal referrals.
Recenty, in April, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), stated that there was sufficient evidence for Trump to be referred to criminal court. However, she cautioned that it had not yet made a decision on moving forward.
It’s clear that President Trump did not know what was illegal. This is evident from the actions of many people around him. When Cheney was asked by CNN if there was enough evidence to warrant a criminal referral, she said that they did it anyway.
In the past, the committee had proposed measures to refer Trump aides to Justice Department for contempt-of-Congress charges. This was due to their refusal to comply subpoenas. Before they could be sent, these referrals needed to be approved by the House.
Thompson claimed that the committee showed him through prerecorded video interviews, how Trump’s key figures had said he lost the election “early”, but that he had continued to spread the stolen election lie to his fundraising apparatus.
The committee urged supporters to contribute to Trump’s “election defence fund”, but they said that it couldn’t find any such fund or committee. The bulk of the $250 million raised was instead given to Trump’s super PAC, the Save America PAC. It was launched within days of the election.
