Lawmakers call for criminal charges against Trump
WASHINGTON: Lawmakers investigating last year’s assault on the US Capitol recommended on Monday that Donald Trump be charged with multiple offences including insurrection — raising the stakes in a parallel criminal investigation that could put the former president in jail.
The House of Representatives select committee called for the indictment — as well as charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States — after an 18-month probe into the storming of Congress on Jan 6, 2021.
At least five people died after a mob whipped up by Mr Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, and directed to march on Congress by the defeated president, ransacked the seat of US democracy in a thwarted bid to prevent the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
The bipartisan committee voted unanimously to refer the charges to the Justice Department after opening remarks by vice-chair Liz Cheney in which she accused Mr Trump of “a clear dereliction of duty” in failing to immediately attempt to stop the riot and called him “unfit for any office.”
“No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again,” she said.
The referrals are seen as largely symbolic, as the panel has no control over charging decisions, which rest with the Justice Department.
Jack Smith, a largely independent special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is leading his own investigation into Mr Trump related to the 2020 election.
Mr Trump issued a statement claiming that the purpose of the investigation was to “keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win” and that any prosecution would be “a partisan attempt to sideline me.”
Mr Trump’s approval ratings are underwater — at minus-20 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average, compared with minuseight percent for Mr Biden.
But the lawmakers’ move is nevertheless historic, as Congress has never made a criminal referral against a sitting or former president, and it will add to the clamor among Mr Trump’s opponents for prosecution.
It is also a major blow to Mr Trump amid a series of missteps in the weeks since he announced a comeback bid for the White House — including the Republicans’ poor midterm election showing in states where the tycoon endorsed candidates.
Charges could result in a ban from public office for the 76-year-old Republican, who still wields considerable power in the Republican Party, and even prison time.
“To cast a vote in the United States is an act of faith and hope,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson said.
“That faith in our system is the foundation of American democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith.”
The committee’s case is that Mr Trump “oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of power.”