Samuel Case, FISM News
The House January 6th Committee says they plan to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department as a result of their probe into the 2021 Capitol riot.
Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told reporters that criminal referrals would be coming, but did not provide any details as to who they will be against, when, or what the charges will be.
“The Committee has determined that referrals to outside entities should be considered as a final part of its work. The committee will make decisions about specifics in the days ahead,” a committee spokesperson told CNN.
An anonymous source told CNN the referrals “will be focused on the main organizers and leaders of the attacks,” but it’s unclear who these individuals might be.
Though Thompson says the committee has agreed to make referrals, Politico Reporter Kyle Cheney reports the committee has not “made any specific decisions about whether any particular person will be criminally referred to DOJ.”
He added, “The committee has generally agreed that it’s a tactic they will use, but no vote yet on who or for what.”
Chairman Thompson tells us that the select committee has *not* made any specific decisions about whether any particular person will be criminally referred to DOJ. The committee has generally agreed that it’s a tactic they will use, but no vote yet on who or for what.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 6, 2022
Meanwhile, a panel subcommittee is also considering criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump and some of his associates over his alleged role in the riot.
Cheney noted the committee has already referred Trump “in every possible way, in legal filings and statements.”
Committee Member Liz Cheney (R-Wyom.) has been adamant that Trump and his allies broke the law. “It’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway,” Cheney told CNN in April.
A final committee report is expected this month, as Republicans will almost certainly dissolve or majorly rework the panel once they take control of the House in January.