Donald Trump: US Capitol Riot Charges “Fake”

Donald Trump, Former US President, accused House lawmakers on Monday of recommending “fake charges” against him as part of an attempt to prevent him from running for the White House again.

“The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax #2,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I WON convincingly.”

On Monday, the US House of Representatives panel probing the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol asked federal prosecutors to charge the former president with four crimes, including obstruction and insurrection, for the role he played in the unprecedented riots that saw right-wing protesters storm the Capitol with deadly weapons.

The panel, led by Democrats had interviewed over 1,000 witnesses and collected hundreds of thousands of documents before reaching the conclusion. Its request to the Justice Department is said to be the first time in history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution. The request, however, does not compel federal prosecutors to act.

The House January 6 committee voted to refer criminal charges to the Justice Department for former President Trump and lawyer John Eastman for their alleged roles in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“The whole purpose and obvious effect of Trump’s scheme were to obstruct, influence, and impede this official proceeding, the central moment for the lawful transfer of power in the United States,” committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin said.

Charges Against Donald Trump

The committee made four criminal referrals for Trump: Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Make a False Statement and “Incite,” “Assist” or “Aid and Comfort” an Insurrection.

But referrals by Congress are merely recommendations, and the Justice Department is under no obligation to bring charges against those referred for prosecution. Still, the committee’s referrals could increase political pressure on the department to act, and lawmakers could unveil new evidence in their final report that federal prosecutors have not yet accessed.

The committee also recommended four Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for punishment for their failure to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. Those four are: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Andy Biggs, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry. Under the new GOP House majority, McCarthy is running to be the next speaker, and Biggs plans to challenge him.

Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson emphasized how important “accountability” was for Trump and his allies. “Accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system,” Thompson said. “We have every confidence that the work of this Committee will help provide a roadmap to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we’ve provided to aid their work. And for those of you who have followed this Committee’s work, I hope we have helped make clear that there’s a broader kind of accountability. Accountability to all of you: the American people.”

Also read: Panel Set To Urge Charges Against Trump

The proceedings mark the culmination of the panel’s nearly 18-month-long investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which featured testimony from dozens of witnesses and a series of high-profile hearings that examined the assault and Trump’s role in stoking his supporters to storm the building. The committee recapped their findings from the previous hearings, including depositions, in-person testimony from witnesses, and video from the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a statement on the alternative social media platform, Trump wrote: “These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on January 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home.”

“The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win and that this whole business of persecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party,” he added. The 76-year-old businessman-turned-politician announced last month that he intends to run for the White House in 2024.