Members of a House panel on Sunday discussed urging criminal prosecutions against aides and allies of former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and adjourned without announcing any decisions.
Presentations for referrals were made and other topics were also discussed at the virtual meeting, according to multiple people familiar with the talks. A committee spokesman said Sunday night there would be no immediate formal announcement or description of what was discussed or decided.
A list of investigative targets that could be subjects of referrals — which included Trump and four top associates — was assembled by a subcommittee ahead of Sunday’s meeting.
With a U.S. Justice Department investigation also under way, criminal referrals by the panel “aren’t necessarily something that is going to wake DOJ up to something they didn’t know before,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said earlier Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “But I do think it will be an important, symbolic thing that the committee can do.”
Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the panel, which has been considering recommending prosecutions and other sanctions against key players in the attack that sought to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Options for the committee include asking the Justice Department to prosecute the men for crimes or to pursue civil penalties. Referrals could also be made to the House ethics committee or state bar associations for other sanctions, including several potential members of Congress who did not comply with committee subpoenas.
‘Important statement’
Committee member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the panel has been “far out ahead” of the Justice Department and he believes federal investigators have made use of evidence the committee has compiled and presented in its public hearings.
Formally urging the department to prosecute still have value, he said earlier Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I think it makes an important statement, not a political one, but a statement about the evidence of an attack on the institutions of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power,” Schiff said.
“I think it’s an important decision in its own right if we go forward with it and one the department ought to give due consideration to,” he said.
Such referrals aren’t legally binding on the Justice Department or other agencies to follow through on. But they would represent a significant public statement about where the committee believes there is enough evidence to warrant prosecution or other sanction.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on the committee and member of the subcommittee, said on Thursday that “We want to make sure no one slips through the cracks.”
“We want to make sure that the key organizers and movers of this attack don’t escape the scrutiny of the justice system,” Raskin told reporters at the Capitol. “I think anyone who engages in criminal actions needs to be held accountable for them and we’re going to spell that out.”
The committee is planning a public meeting on Dec. 21 to release a final report on its investigation.
“What you will see with this report, and everything included, is a fulsome picture,” said Kinzinger, who opted not to run for reelection and is leaving Congress.
The committee faces an end-of-year sunset to its charter and authority and Republicans who won control of the House in the midterm elections are likely to disband the panel.
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(With assistance from Mike Dorning.)
