The House January 6 Committee voted on Monday to send referrals to the Justice Department recommending former President Donald Trump be criminally prosecuted.
The referrals include obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the federal government, making a false statement, and inciting, assisting, or aiding and comforting an insurrection.
In what is expected to be its final meeting on Monday, the House Select Committee to Investigate January 6 said it will formally ask the DOJ to pursue charges after a nearly 18-month probe into the former president’s involvement in the activities that lead to the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021.
The committee said on Monday that it believes it has significant evidence that former President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power, and believes that the DOJ can likely elicit testimony relevant to an investigation under a federal statute that bans rebellion against the U.S. government.
That statute says anyone who ‘incites’ or ‘gives aid or comfort’ in any ‘rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States,’ cannot hold public office.
The committee’s unprecedented criminal referral holds no official legal weight, and a final determination in whether to pursue the charges will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department.
The committee also referred several GOP House lawmakers Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Scott Perry, R-Pa., to the House Ethics Committee for not complying with subpoenas.
A spokesperson for Jordan responded to the committee’s referral in statement to Fox News: ‘This is just another partisan and political stunt made by a Select Committee that knowingly altered evidence, blocked minority representation on a Committee for the first time in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives, and failed to respond to Mr. Jordan’s numerous letters and concerns surrounding the politicization and legitimacy of the Committee’s work.’
Over its 18-month tenure, the committee obtained access to tens of thousands of documents, the committee has conducted nearly 1,000 interviews related to the Capitol protests.
At Monday’s meeting, the committee’s members, seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, each presented a portion of their findings against Trump before taking the vote to issue criminal referrals.
The former president, who launched his 2024 White House bid last month, was subpoenaed by the committee last month but defied the panel’s requests for information.
Fox News’ Haris Alic contributed to this report.
