Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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The seven Democrats and two Republicans tasked with investigating the 2021 riot in the U.S. Capitol will likely vote Monday to recommend the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
The committee announced via its Twitter account late last week that it would hold a meeting Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern.
🗓️ The Select Committee will hold a business meeting on Monday, December 19th at 1:00pm.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 15, 2022
Politico was first to report that the committee will call for Trump to be charged with insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States government.
“We spent a huge amount of time not just on what the code sections are and the bottom line recommendation, but the facts – and I think it’s really important when we discuss whatever it is we are going to do and we’ll have a vote on it, that people understand the facts behind the conclusions we reach,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said during an interview on CNN.
Trump, who has posted frequently and at length on Truth Social about his legal challenges, bashed the committee, Justice Department, and Democrats.
“They say that the Unselect Committee of Democrats, Misfits, and Thugs, without any representation from Republicans in good standing, is getting ready to recommend Criminal Charges to the highly partisan, political, and Corrupt ‘Justice’ Department for the ‘PEACEFULLY & [PATRIOTICALLY]’ speech I made on January 6th,” Trump wrote Saturday night. “This speech and my actions were mild & loving, especially when compared to [Democrats’] wild spewing of HATE. Why didn’t they investigate massive Election Fraud or send in the Troops? SCAM!”
Earlier in the day he wrote, “Our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer. The Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of ‘Justice,’ and ‘Intelligence,’ all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer. These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!!”
The timing of the committee’s recommendation is peculiar, but necessary if the committee hopes to put a bow on its oft-polarizing existence.
With Republicans only weeks away from taking over the House and all but guaranteed to immediately shut down the committee, it truly was now or never.
Unsurprisingly, key figures on the right met news of Monday’s meeting with scorn, pointing again to the fact that outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to seat Republicans on the committee, save Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
“Pelosi’s Jan 6 committee will issue a truly bogus report next week based on the most appallingly unAmerican congressional ‘investigation’ in American history,” Conservative talk show host Mark Levis tweeted in a lengthy threat. “There will be no minority report because the majority chose the minority.”
1. Pelosi’s Jan 6 committee will issue a truly bogus report next week based on the most appallingly unAmerican congressional “investigation” in American history. There will be no minority report because the majority chose the minority.
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) December 17, 2022
Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who like so many other Republicans has framed the committee and its summer series of prime-time hearings as a kangaroo court, shared Levin’s tweet thread and predicted Monday’s meeting was a formality.
Greene also accused Democrats and the media of conspiring to attack Trump.
“I’ll add on,” Greene tweeted. “The Democrat DOJ will prosecute from the bogus report. Democrat-controlled media will broadcast 24/7 like they did the Russia collusion lie. Then Democrat campaign consultants will use it all in fundraising & attack ads for ‘24 campaigns. Well-oiled machine.”
Importantly, the Justice Department is not legally obliged to do anything at the direction of the committee. The committee’s recommendations are ceremonial and carry no legal weight.
There is a chance, whether large or small depends on how much faith one holds in the DOJ’s ability to operate apolitically, that Attorney General Merrick Garland opts to do nothing.