WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol bombing plans to vote Monday to issue criminal references against former President Donald J. Trump on insurrection and at least two other charges, according to a person who familiar with the matter and who was not authorized to discuss it.
The panel was widely expected to indict Mr. Trump for obstructing official Congressional proceedings and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The members of the panel had already argued in federal court that they believed it likely that he committed those two crimes. But the addition of an insurrection charge was a new development.
The House impeached Mr. Trump last year for inciting insurrection, and members of the panel have long argued that Mr. Trump was the central figure fomenting an uprising against the United States as he tried to stay in power. Politico previously reported that a charge of insurrection would be considered.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and a member of the Jan. 6 committee charged with studying possible criminal references, was the lead impeachment manager against Mr. Trump on incitement to insurrection.
References against Trump, which the committee will approve as part of its report, would have no legal weight or compel the Justice Department to take action, but they would send a strong signal that a congressional committee believes the former president committed certain crimes. have committed.
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In a statement, Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, dismissed the panel as a “kangaroo court” that held “show trials of Never Trump partisans who are a blot on the history of this country.”
The commission also would consider whether to issue criminal and civil referrals for some of Trump’s closest allies at a meeting scheduled for Monday as it prepares to release a sizable report outlining its findings on the effort to undo the 2020 elections.
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Members were also expected to discuss the forthcoming report and recommendations for legislative changes.
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the committee chair, has said the panel was considering references to “five or six” different entities, including the Justice Department, the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission and bar associations.
In the case of Mr. Trump, an official finding that a former president should be prosecuted for breaking the law would be a rare step for the legislature.
In addition to the former president, the panel will likely consider filing charges against John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who was an architect of Mr Trump’s attempts to invalidate his election defeat. The committee argued in court that Mr. Eastman most likely violated two federal laws for his role in the plan, including obstructing an official act of Congress and defrauding the American public.
The charge of obstructing Congress stems from Mr. Trump’s bid, engineered by Mr. Eastman and others, to interfere with the official counting of Congressional electoral votes to certify the results of the presidential election. The count was abruptly halted when supporters of Mr. Trump violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, sending lawmakers and the vice president fleeing for their lives.
The fraud charge relates to the former president spreading the lie that he was the true winner of the 2020 election, even after being repeatedly told he had lost and, according to some accounts, privately admitting that he knew.
The panel also plans to release a portion of its eight-chapter final report in an effort to support the peaceful transfer of power from Mr. Trump to Joseph R. Biden Jr. to block. The commission’s full report is scheduled for Wednesday. Additional attachments and transcripts are expected to be released before the end of the year, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans ahead of time.