AP
What to watch as Jan. 6 panel cites Trump’s ‘attempted coup’
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and HOPE YEN December 18, 2022 GMT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol riot will make its final public presentation Monday about the unprecedented effort by Donald Trump to overturn the results of the presidential election he lost in 2020. The committee has called it an “attempted coup” that warrants criminal prosecution from the Justice Department.
That is expected to be the committee’s closing argument as it wraps up a year-and-a-half-long inquiry and prepares to release a final report detailing its findings about the insurrection in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans is set to dissolve at the end of the year.
Monday’s meeting will be the committee’s 11th public session since forming in July 2021. One of the first hearings, on June 9, was viewed by more than 20 million people.
What to watch for in Monday’s meeting at 1 p.m. EST:
REFERRING A PRESIDENT
COMPLICIT LAWMAKERS?
A RECORD FOR HISTORY
LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Since its formation, the Jan. 6 committee has strived to build a record for history and deepen the public’s understanding of what led to the Capitol attack and the individuals involved in it.
“We obviously want to complete the story for the American people,” Raskin said. “Everybody has come on a journey with us and we want a satisfactory conclusion, such that people feel that Congress has done its job.”
After conducting thousands of interviews — ranging from Trump Cabinet secretaries to members of his own family — and obtaining tens of thousands of documents, congressional investigators say they have created the most comprehensive look at the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries.
But the 16-month investigation has also provided a road map of sorts for criminal investigations, influencing the probes of Trump and Jan. 6 that are progressing at the local, state and federal level.
There is some question whether the Justice Department will act with Trump announced as a 2024 presidential candidate. Schiff expressed worry on Sunday that federal prosecutors may be slow to move on charges as long as Trump is politically relevant. “I think he should face the same remedy, force of law, that anyone else would,” Schiff said.
Still, Monday’s session remains the last word for the committee as its temporary, or “select,” committee status expires at the end of the current Congress.
Once Republicans take the majority next year, they are not expected to renew the committee, instead launching a slew of investigations that will focus on the Biden administration and the president’s family.
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