The commission’s massive final report, the culmination of 18 months of investigation and sometimes explosive revelations, is due on Wednesday, but a 154-page summary was published on Monday, including the main points.
Trump ‘main cause’ of violence
A wealth of evidence “led to a simple and general conclusion: the primary cause of January 6 was one man: former President Donald Trump, followed by so many others,” the report noted. “None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.” The document clearly cites the articles of law that, according to the parliamentary commission, would have been violated by the president, supporting the four counts recommended to the Ministry of Justice: incitement to sedition, conspiracy against the state, obstruction of an official procedure (certification of a presidential election) and false statements.
Those recommendations do not concern the Republican businessman’s relatives, but this preliminary report indicates that John Eastman, Donald Trump’s lawyer, may also face charges, as well as “others.” The parliamentarians list 17 points from their investigation that support the four charges. According to their account, Donald Trump knew that some of his statements were false and that his choice to declare himself – wrongly – the winner of the 2020 election “was premeditated.”
“Rebellion”
The commission is also raising the possibility of indicting Donald Trump for “sedition”, as are members of the far-right group Proud Boys, whose trial opened on Monday. That charge, which stems from a law passed after the Civil War to suppress the last rebels in the South, involves planning to use force to oppose the government. It differs from insurrection, which has a more spontaneous character.
“The Department of Justice, with more important investigative tools than this commission, could have the evidence” to charge the former president with treason, the parliamentarians write. “It will be up to the Justice Department to decide,” one of the nine members, Democrat Jamie Raskin, added after Monday’s hearing.
Omissions of relatives
Several relatives of Donald Trump were evasive or reported implausible memory lapses during their hearings, according to the report. The former president’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump ‘wasn’t that outgoing […] than others about President Trump’s actions,” the document notes, adding “lack of memory on certain points. »
Former White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany “seemed evasive, as if testifying from scripted language. “On many occasions, Kayleigh McEnany’s testimony did not seem as honest as the members of her press team,” we still read.
Parliamentarians in the viewfinder
The commission is referring to a dedicated parliamentary committee the case of several elected Republicans who refused to cooperate with their investigation. Among them Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives and candidate for his presidency, who in January could be elected to this post of “speaker”, which would make him the third most important figure in the American state.