Jan. 6 committees to release final report after urging the DOJ to prosecute Trump: live updates

WASHINGTON – The final report from the House committee that suspected the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, is expected Wednesday.

The report culminates an 18-month inquiry into what led to the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814 and what happened that day. With Republicans who labeled the panel partisan and illegitimate taking control of the House in January, the report will be the committee’s last opportunity to summarize its findings and make recommendations aimed at preventing another attack.

Here is what we know so far:

Former President Donald Trump displayed on a screen during a hearing Monday of the House committee investigating the Jan.  6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Former President Donald Trump displayed on a screen during a hearing Monday of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Republicans release a rival report that says Democratic leaders, law enforcement left the Capitol vulnerable to attack

Five House Republicans released a rival report Wednesday to the House Jan. 6 committee’s final report that argued congressional leaders and law enforcement left the campus vulnerable to attack on Jan. 6, 2021, but that the Democratic-led investigation disregarded those failings.

Findings accused Democratic leaders of seeking to avoid the “optics” of a large police presence at the Capitol after Black Lives Matter protests the previous year. The Capitol Police lacked training and equipment to deal with a riotous mob, according to the report, which echoed the findings of an earlier Senate report.

The GOP lawmakers who wrote the rebuttal are Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Rodney Davis of Illinois, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Troy Nehls of Texas. The five were nominated to serve on the committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Calif., rejected Banks and Jordan, and the others withdrew.

– Bart Jansen

Pelosi rejects Republicans: Pelosi rejects GOP picks Jordan, Banks on Jan. 6 committees; McCarthy threatens to pull out

Jan. 6 committee final report still expected Wednesday

The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, has said that after releasing an executive summary Monday, the final report will be released Wednesday.

“I expect our final work will be filed with the clerk of the House and made public later this week,” Thompson said Monday. “Beyond that release, the select committee intends to make public the bulk of its non-sensitive records before the end of the year.”

“The transcripts and documents will allow the American people to see for themselves the body of evidence we’ve gathered and continue to explore the information that has led us to our conclusions,” Thompson said.

– Bart Jansen

Hope Hicks Jan. 6 testimony: Will Trump loyalist’s full account incriminate the former president?

The Jan. 6 committee already revealed damaging testimony from former Donald Trump loyalist Hope Hicks on Monday. With the full report coming out as early as today, and a transcript of her lengthy interview with the House panel, what else might be coming out about what she saw and heard in the White House that day – and in the days and weeks leading up to it?

Hicks, for example, told Trump she believed he’d lost the election to Joe Biden and that there was no evidence of widespread fraud as he had falsely been claiming. “I was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging his legacy,” Hicks said in videotaped testimony that was displayed on a huge screen towering over the packed hearing room Monday. Trump’s response? “He said something along the lines of nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter,” Hicks said. “The only thing that matters is winning.”

Hope Hicks testimony: Will Trump loyalist Hope Hicks’ Jan. 6 testimonies to incriminate the former president?

Former Trump administration staffers and legal experts believe her full testimony will be even more damning to the former president, both in the court of public opinion and a court of law should he ever be prosecuted. “The significance of Hope Hicks’ testimony to the (Jan. 6) committee cannot be overlooked,” said Stephanie Grisham, a Trump White House press secretary and communications director who worked closely with Hicks. “Next to Dan Scavino, she was Trump’s most trusted aide and one of the only people he listened to. Her constant proximity to the president makes her not only valuable as a witness, but vital.”

– Josh Meyer

Jan. 6 committee members list: Who is on the House panel?

  • Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

  • Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

  • Rep. Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.

  • Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

  • Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.

  • Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

  • Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

  • Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

Who is on the Jan. 6 committees?: Meet the members and chair

Cassidy Hutchinson Jan. 6 testimony: Unknowns remain about what happened in motorcade

After speaking to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, near the White House, telling them “we are going to the Capitol,” Trump was so frustrated that his motorcade was headed back to the White House and not to the US Capitol that he tried to grab the steering wheel, according to June testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, top aide to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff.

Hutchinson tested in a summer hearing that she was told about the “angry response” by then-White House deputy chief of staff for operations Anthony Ornato, who told her that when Trump tried to reach the wheel, Robert Engel, the chief of Trump’s security details, grabbed his arm.

That’s when Trump used his free hand to “lunge” toward Engel’s “clavicles.”

However, the House Jan. The 6 committee’s executive summary released Monday contains none of those details, instead it describes his behavior variously as “irate,” “furious,” “insistent,” “profane” and “heated” from “witnesses.”

– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Watchdog predicts more Jan. 6 ‘bombshells’

One government watchdog expects the full Jan. 6 committee reports – expected to run as long as 800 pages or more – will help fill in the blanks that remain, even after nearly a dozen committee hearings.

“Today, the committee will release its full report on the Jan. 6 insurrection — hundreds of pages packed with evidence, witness statements and bombshells,” Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote in an NBC op-ed Wednesday.

But he explained nothing will be as important as the conclusion announced Monday that Trump, “as a matter of law, incited an insurrection against the authorities of the US government.”

– Donovan Slack

Liz Cheney: Trump should not be allowed to serve as president again

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Monday that former President Donald Trump should not be allowed to serve as president again.

Cheney, vice chair of the committee, began her remarks in the panel’s final meeting by saying “at the heart of our republic is a guarantee of a peaceful transfer of power.”

“Every president in our history has defended this orderly transfer of authority, except one,” Cheney said, calling Trump’s efforts on Jan. 6, 2021 the first time an American president refused his constitutional duty to transfer power peacefully.

“This was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty,” she said. “No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again.”

– Joey Garrison

Recap of the final Jan. 6 hearings: House committee recommends DOJ prosecute Trump over Capitol attack

The Committee urges the Justice Department to charge Trump

In an unprecedented move, the committee recommended Monday the Justice Department charge Trump criminally.

The recommendation is nonbinding and the department already has a special counsel investigating Trump. But the evidence the committee gathered could provide a roadmap for prosecutors.

The committee argued that Trump violated laws governing obstruction of Congress, inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement. The Justice Department declined comment on the recommendations.

Jack Smith was named special counsel on Nov.  18 to oversee the Justice Department's investigation into the presence of classified documents at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the Jan.  6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.

Jack Smith was named special counsel on Nov. 18 to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.

Trump contends criticism from partisan committee helps him politically

Trump, who has called the committee partisan and illegitimate, said the report would help him run for president in 2024.

Trump noted that he wanted to prevent violence on Jan. 6, but spent most of his statement focused on politics.

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me,” Trump said on the Truth Social website. “It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

How to say insurrection mean?

Convicting Trump of insurrection could be a high hurdle for prosecutors to clear, according to legal experts. A majority of 57 senators voted to convict him when the House impeached Trump for inciting the insurrection, but he was acquitted for lack of a two-thirds majority.

Part of the challenge in criminal court would be proving Trump’s intent to spark rebellion against the government. Trump contends he was challenging election results as is his right. But lawmakers said criminal intent could be found in Trump’s clash with Secret Service agents over joining the mob at the Capitol and in his rally speech the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, urging protesters to “fight like hell.”

“It’s not an impossible bar, but it is a difficult bar to clear,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami. “The problem here, as always, is that you have to prove your intention.”

Inciting insurrection: A striking condemnation of Trump – but a high bar for prosecutors

Bennie Thompson: Jan. 6 committees already made an impact

The House created the special committee to investigate the attack and it will expire when the current Congress adjourns this month. The open question is what will its legacy entail.

The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has told reporters the panel’s impact has already been felt in changing the public perception of Trump, even if the final report doesn’t expand on revelations from the hearings.

Potential criminal prosecutions could be one measure of its influence. Legislation that grew out of the findings, such as an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, could be another gauge.

The legacy could also affect collegiality within the House. The Democratic-led committee recommended ethics investigations against four Republican lawmakers for defying subpoenas. One of them, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, told Fox News on Dec. 4 he would remove a committee member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., from the select committee on intelligence if he becomes the speaker as expected in January.

Jan. 6 committee news

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jan. 6 committee live updates: What to know about report’s release

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