1/ The Jan. 6 Committee formally accused Trump of inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 joint session, and unanimously voted to refer the crimes to the Justice Department for prosecution. “That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the committee wrote in its final report. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” It’s the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution. Trump was also the first president in American history to be impeached twice. In addition to Trump’s criminal referrals, the panel referred Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Chesebro for prosecution. None of the committee’s referrals, however, compel the Justice Department to act. The panel also referred four Republicans – Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, and Andy Biggs – to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring the its subpoenas. “Faith in our system is the foundation of American democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy,” Chairman Bennie Thompson said. “Donald Trump broke that faith. He lost the 2020 election and knew it, but he chose to try to stay in office through a multi-part scheme.” Thompson added: “This can never happen again.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / NPR)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2022/12/19/day-699/