The House Select Committee on Monday unveiled a bold plan for the prosecution of former President Donald Trump and a number of his friends, claiming they had committed a variety of criminal offenses by pursuing parallel efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
But it is still unknown how strictly the special counsel’s office, leading the Justice Department’s own investigation, will adhere to the committee’s recommendations or whether Mr. Trump and others will be charged at all.
#January6thCommittee Criminal Referrals of President Donald J. Trump to the Department of Justice. pic.twitter.com/Ls8y9qLRX5
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2022
The panel’s recommendations that charges be filed were supported by a thorough inquiry that took place over several months and included speaking with important witnesses who even federal prosecutors may not have yet contacted.
Regarding the efforts made by the Justice Department, little is known in the public regarding any particular accusations that the special counsel, Jack Smith, may be contemplating in a criminal case. The department is not required to follow the committee’s recommendations or adopt its findings.
Still, search warrants and subpoenas that have progressively come to light during the federal investigation show that there has been some overlap between the criminal statutes mentioned by the department and the charges the committee suggested.
This comes as Democratic lawmakers on Thursday are pushing to block former Trump from ever holding office again.
House Democrats are backing legislation that accuses Trump of involvement in “insurrection” and points to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to assert that Trump is not eligible to hold office again.
“Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Donald J. Trump is ineligible to again hold the office of President of the United States, or to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States,” the measure stated.
Trump formally announced last month that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he said in front of a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, where his campaign will be headquartered.
The ex-president still holds a plurality of support among Republicans. A recent NYT/Siena survey found that nearly 50 percent of GOP voters said they want Trump to run in 2024, while 25 percent named Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
