According to numerous sources, the January 6 Committee will refer Donald Trump to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on three charges, including “insurrection” and obstruction of Congress. The Committee is also asking the DOJ to charge the former president with “conspiracy to defraud the government.”
It’s a waste of time. Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have much grander plans for Trump than a minor congressional committee. The real action at the DOJ will come when special counsel Jack Smith starts kicking butt and taking names — if we can believe the characterization of his reputation as a prosecutor.
For our VIPs: It’s Time to Convene a Real January 6 Committee, and We’ve Got Questions
Smith will be supervising the criminal investigation into whether or not Trump interfered with the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election as well as an investigation into whether classified records and documents were taken illegally to Trump’s Florida home.
It’s unclear whether the select committee’s final report will recommend additional charges for Trump beyond the three described to POLITICO, or whether it will urge other criminal charges for other players in Trump’s bid to subvert his 2020 loss. The document, according to the people familiar, includes an extensive justification for the recommended charges.
To justify incitement of insurrection, the report references U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s February ruling saying Trump’s language plausibly incited violence on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters besieged the Capitol in a bid to disrupt congressional certification of his loss to Joe Biden. The report also cites the Senate’s 57 votes in last year’s impeachment trial, Trump’s second, to convict him on an “incitement of insurrection” charge passed by the House.
So a judge appointed by Barack Obama says that Trump’s language exhorting his followers to keep the faith was language that “plausibly” incited violence? That and the notion that the Senate failed to convict Trump of insurrection is what the DOJ is supposed to use to prosecute the former president.
Sheesh.
Over the course of its probe the committee interviewed nearly every member of Trump’s inner circle — from his White House counsel Pat Cipollone to attorney Rudy Giuliani to his children Ivanka and Donald Jr. They interviewed members of Trump’s Secret Service detail, campaign team, attorneys and White House staff. And while some key witnesses pleaded the Fifth or invoked privileges that the committee could not pierce, many provided extraordinary evidence of Trump’s plot.
Obviously, most of the witnesses believed they weren’t incriminating themselves by saying what happened. So I guess it’s up to the DOJ to fashion a narrative that criminalizes their actions. And that’s harder to do than you might think.
Needless to say, one of the major goals of this prosecution will be to make sure that no Republican will ever, ever question the results of an American election again. Some of Trump’s actions may very well have crossed the line, although “insurrection” is a silly, unnecessary charge that the committee threw in the referral for dramatic effect.
But the end result is exactly as the Democrats desire it. There will be a price to pay if you question anything about the results of an election.
Except when Democrats are asking the questions.
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