After months of public hearings, a committee has recommended former US president Donald Trump face four criminal charges for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
The referral has no legal standing, but it adds political pressure on US Attorney-General Marrick Garland, who is also conducting an investigation.
It's been a long road, but let's look at what happened during the January 6 committee hearings up until this point.
What is the Jan 6 committee?
It's a collection of bipartisan House of Representative members who were assembled to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol led by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.
Who is on the Jan 6 committee?
The committee is made up of seven Democrat representatives: Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff, Pete Aguliar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin, Elaine Luria and chair Bennie Thompson.
Two Republicans also sat on the committee: Adam Kinzinger and vice-chair Liz Cheney.
Is Donald Trump in trouble?
The committee's findings cannot force a law enforcement body to lay charges.
The committee's mission was to take a comprehensive account of the insurrection and educate the public about what happened.
However, the recommendations put additional pressure on US authorities investigating Mr Trump.
A final report is due to be handed down on Thursday Australian time.
What were the charges recommended against trump?
There are four charges all up. Put simply, the recommended charges are:
- 1.Obstruction of an official proceeding
- 2.Conspiracy to defraud the United States
- 3.Conspiracy to make a false statement
- 4.Incite, assist or aid and comfort an Insurrection
What did we learn from the Jan 6 hearings?
Just so much. Let's break down the public hearings up to this point.
Hearing #1 – June 9 2022
The first public hearing focused on video and written evidence of Mr Trump's closest allies confessing that they knew he had lost the election, despite the former president's protests otherwise.
Video footage showed former US attorney-general William Barr, Mr Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley and even Mr Trump's own daughter Ivanka testifying that they knew Mr Trump had lost the 2020 federal election.
The committee also aired a roughly 10-minute-long video showing how the events of January 6 unfolded.
Hearing #2 – June 13
Hearing number two saw the committee make clear distinctions between those in Mr Trump's team who supported his lies and those who did not.
In an interview shown, Mr Barr said Mr Trump has become "detached from reality".
An investigator for the committee also laid out how $US250 million ($374 million) was raised off the election lies from Mr Trump following the election.
But, the investigator said, most of the money went to groups supporting Mr Trump, not to fund court battles.
Hearing #3 – June 16
The third public hearing was all about then-vice president Mike Pence and Mr Trump's efforts to prevent him from certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory.
A White House aide described a tweet from Mr Trump during the riot that read, "Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done," as "pouring gasoline on a fire".
The committee presented evidence that Mr Trump put Mr Pence under extreme pressure both publicly and privately to decertify the election.
It also introduced potential criminal liability for lawyer John Eastman, who Mr Trump was following for legal advice.
Hearing #4 – June 21
The fourth hearing featured more damning testimony from the state leaders who Mr Trump attempted to strong-arm into decertifying Mr Biden's election win.
There was intense testimony from three Republican officials who were all on the receiving end of Mr Trump's outreach after the election.
All three witnesses refused to bow to Mr Trump's demands to alter election results, and all three spoke of the life-changing consequences they suffered because of it.
Hearing #5 – June 23
The fifth hearing included further evidence of Mr Trump's campaign to pressure the Justice Department to agree with his "stolen election" narrative.
That included allegedly pushing government officials to investigate fringe far-right conspiracy theories, and urging senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines from state governments in the pursuit of non-existent fraud.
Hearing #6 – June 28
During the sixth hearing, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided testimony in which she alleged previously unknown details about:
- Mr Trump physically trying to force his driver to take him to the Capitol as protesters stormed the building
- Mr Trump throwing his lunch at the wall in December after finding out then-attorney-general William Barr had told the media there was no fraud on a scale large enough to tip the election
- How Mr Trump knew some supporters had brought weapons on January 6
- The link between Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the right-wing group the Proud Boys
Hearing #7 – July 12
Evidence from the seventh hearing swirled around a tweet sent by Mr Trump in late December 2020.
"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" the tweet read.
The committee argued that this was a call to arms for members of extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, many of whom made up the violent mob on January 6.
The committee brought in witnesses from both groups, who testified that Mr Trump's words made them feel compelled to flock to the Capitol building on January 6.
Hearing #8 – July 22
What was thought to be the final hearing for the committee looked at what Mr Trump did — and didn't do — for more than three hours while his supporters tried to violently stop the transfer of power on January 6.
On the morning of January 6, Mr Trump addressed his followers with a speech at the White House Ellipse that finished at 1:10pm.
It wasn't until 4:17pm that Mr Trump reluctantly told his followers to go home.
In this time, the now-violent mob had breached the Capitol building and sent politicians into the bowels of the building to shelter for safety.
Hearing #9 – October 13
In their final public hearing, the committee presented evidence that painted Mr Trump on the day of the attacks as a desperate man trying all avenues he could – including illegal ones – to cling to power.
All nine committee members voted publicly to subpoena the former president to testify under oath, in an unexpected theatrical flourish.
Mr Trump issued a lawsuit to challenge the subpoena. As of November 14, the committee announced, he had "failed to comply" with the request for documents and testimony.
ABC/AP
