Donald Trump should face criminal charges, US Capitol riot panel says
- The January 6 committee urged the Justice Department to consider prosecuting Donald Trump for four different crimes
- Former president Trump accused House lawmakers of attempting to prevent him from running for the White House again
Lawmakers investigating last year’s assault on the US Capitol recommended 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 January 6, 2021.
At least five people died after a mob whipped up by 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 on Monday voted unanimously to refer the charges to the Justice Department after opening remarks by vice-chair Liz Cheney in which she accused 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.