Unprecedented referral for unprecedented time
It is unprecedented for a former president of the United States to be referred for prosecution on criminal charges. It also is unprecedented for a president to plot to overturn a lawful election and maintain power by any means necessary.
So unprecedented, in fact, it had never happened in the history of the United States. Not until Donald Trump lost the presidential election of 2020 against Democrat Joe Biden. What Trump unleashed on Jan. 6, 2021, can never occur again — and that’s why he must be held accountable.
First the ex-president lied to his followers that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Then he and his stooges concocted a scheme to stop the constitutionally mandated certification of the election — hoping that stalling would allow Trump to cling to power.
To that end, he called on his followers to convene in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and then encouraged them to march on the Capitol. The chaos that ensued was televised live, with brave Capitol Police officers saving the lives of members of Congress, and those equally stalwart representatives and senators standing fast to certify the election.
The day was both the worst and best of times for our American experiment in representative democracy.
On Monday, the bipartisan House Select Committee charged with investigating the events of Jan. 6 referred Trump to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution. The unanimous committee referral accuses Trump of obstruction of an official procedure, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, and inciting or assisting an insurrection.
The committee also wants the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s election lawyer, John Eastman — who owns a home in Santa Fe — for his role in the plot. His alleged crimes are impeding an official proceeding of the United States government and conspiring to defraud the United States. Eastman wrote the two-page memo outlining the plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify Electoral College electors from several states when Congress gathered on Jan. 6. Pence refused, to the nation’s everlasting gratitude.
The Justice Department, of course, does not have to pay attention to referrals from Congress.
A special prosecutor already is conducting a separate criminal probe into events leading up to the insurrection, and his decisions are independent of the congressional committee. However, the voluminous results of the 18-month committee investigation can be shared with the Justice Department — potentially saving time and providing crucial evidence that crimes were committed.
Obviously, committee evidence might be insufficient for a criminal case — hearsay might be allowed in congressional hearings but not in a court of law, for example. However, the committee’s work included 1,200 witness interviews, the examination of hundreds of thousands of documents, the issuance of more than 100 subpoenas and public hearings.
With Trump committed to running for president in 2024, the criminal referral carries extra weight. Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, individuals convicted of insurrection can be barred from holding federal office again.
Holding Trump accountable for what he did in plain sight could mean — finally — that he must exit the national stage. This criminal referral is a step toward ensuring a man willing to suspend the Constitution for his own gain cannot return to power. U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican from Wyoming, lost her job over her work on the committee; one of the few in politics to put country over party. She summed up the urgency of the moment on Monday, saying: “No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office.”