‘Tis the season for pre-holiday drama on Capitol Hill.
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol will vote at a Dec. 19 meeting whether to recommend prosecuting Donald Trump and some of his advisers. The committee’s final report is set for a Dec. 21 release.
Committee recommendations will be sent to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to prosecute the former president and members of his administration.
Trump responded with a post on TruthSocial Thursday saying — once he is re-elected president — he will prosecute people who attempt to limit “free speech.”
The committee displayed evidence and interviews from members of the Trump administration in several hearings since June. It has detailed statements and actions by Trump and some of his advisers in the period from his election defeat in November of 2020 to the violence that erupted on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hearings have focused on testimony from staff members who worked for the Trump administration, all the way up to his personal lawyers and former Attorney General Bill Barr, who called Trump’s rigged election assertions “bullshit.”
The Democratic-controlled committee is wrapping up its work, as the Republican House majority elected last month will take over control of all committees, and is likely to disband the Jan. 6 committee.
Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans serving on the committee, has said in several television interviews that she favors filing charges against Trump for spreading “stolen election” disinformation and inciting the Capitol violence. Cheney was defeated in her bid for reelection in Wyoming in last month’s election.
