WASHINGTON –
Members of the committee investigating the US Capitol riots on Sunday said they had discovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump. for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“I would like to see the Department of Justice investigate any credible allegations of criminal activity by Donald Trump,” said Representative Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a committee member who also heads the Intelligence Committee. House of Representatives said. “There are certain actions that are part of these different efforts to overturn the election that I don’t see evidence that the Justice Department is investigating.”
The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members bringing their cases against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims about a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he’s ramped up an extraordinary plan to turn the tide of Joe Biden’s victory.
Additional evidence to be released this week during hearings will demonstrate how Trump and his advisers engaged in a “major effort” to spread disinformation and pressure the Justice Department. The law must accept his false claims.
Committee members said Sunday their most important audience during the final hearing could be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide if his department can and should pursue denounce Trump or not. They have no doubt in their own opinion as to whether the evidence is sufficient.
“Once the evidence has been accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision as to whether it can prove to a grand jury beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the president or anyone else,” Schiff said. other or not. “But they need to be investigated if there is credible evidence, which I think is.”
Representative Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he has no intention of “defeating” Garland but noted that the committee has taken legal action on many of the criminal laws it believes Trump violated. .
“I think he knows, his staff knows, the US attorney knows, what’s at stake here,” Raskin said. “They know how important it is, but I think they’re paying the right amount of attention to the historical precedent and the truth of this case.”
Garland has not specified how he might proceed, which is unprecedented and could be complicated in a political election season where Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again in 2024. “We’ll follow it wherever they lead,” Garland said in his speech at Harvard University’s opening ceremony last month.
A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump was “more likely than not” to commit a federal crime in seeking to obstruct Congress’ count of votes on Mr. Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021. The judge invoked two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
Schiff appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” and Raskin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
