Jan. 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump, lawyer John Eastman

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on Monday urged the Justice Department to charge former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

The criminal charges recommended by the committee include: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and efforts to incite, assist, or aid or comfort an insurrection.

This is the first time that the House has recommended criminal charges against a former president. The Justice Department will now weigh the accusations and will decide if Trump should be charged.

“Even if it were true that President Trump genuinely believed the election was stolen, this is no defense. No president can ignore the courts and purposely violate the law no matter what supposed ‘justification’ he or she presents,” the House committee said in their report.

Trump said on Truth Social in response to the referral: “The Unselect Committee of political hacks are the same group that came up with the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, not to mention many others. They are Corrupt cowards who hate our Country!”

The Democrat-led committee also recommended criminal charges against lawyer and Trump-ally John Eastman, for allegedly aiding in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

A referral was also made to the House Ethics Committee over multiple Republican lawmakers refusal to comply with subpoenas from the committee.