Jan. 6 committee sends Trump criminal referral to DOJ

The Jan. 6 select House committee on Monday referred former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and potential prosecution for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

The committee’s historic referral says there is sufficient evidence to refer Trump for four crimes: obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government, making knowingly and willfully make materially false statements to the federal government, and inciting or assisting an insurrection.

While the Justice Department takes criminal referrals seriously, it isn’t obligated to charge anyone with a crime. Trump hasn’t been charged with any crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol and has denied any wrongdoing.

If Trump were to be charged and convicted of insurrection, he theoretically could be barred from holding federal office again under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Trump last month announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

However, it underscores how seriously the committee views Trump’s actions after the election, in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the halls of Congress by a mob of his supporters.

The House committee on Monday also recommended that the DOJ investigate and potentially prosecute Trump’s election law attorney John Eastman for his role in advancing a plan to overturn the election results. Eastman’s referral was for his alleged violation of two criminal statutes: impeding an official proceeding of the United States government, and conspiring to defraud the United States.

Eastman was the author of a two-page memo that outlined a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify several states’ Electoral College electors when Congress met for that purpose on Jan. 6.

Panel member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said the committee would refer four members of Congress “for appropriate sanction by the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with lawful subpoenas.” He did not name them, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is among the members who defied a subpoena from the committee.

The committee’s referrals come after nearly 18 months of investigation, which included more than 1,000 witness interviews, subpoenas for documents and electronic communications, and public hearings.

The DOJ already is conducting a criminal probe of Trump for those actions, which involved an effort to reverse his losses to President Joe Biden in several swing states, and to pressure Pence to refuse to accept Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.

The DOJ also is separately…