The January 6 committee refers Trump for potential criminal charges

The House Jan. 6 committee broadcast the last of ten public hearings yesterday, where its members – 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans – unanimously voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for four potential criminal charges.

☝️ First things first: Congress doesn’t have the power to bring charges or initiate a criminal investigation, but it can call for the Justice Department to launch a probe. These requests, or criminal referrals, don’t hold any legal weight or influence over the DOJ’s decisions.

• At the moment, the Justice Department is running a separate investigation into the events of Jan. 6. This probe is led by an independent special counsel, and will make its own determination of what – if any – charges to bring against former President Trump.

⚖️ What are the charges?... The four alleged offenses laid out by the committee are:

1. Obstruction of an official proceeding
2. Conspiracy to defraud the United States
3. Conspiracy to make a false statement
4. Insurrection

The committee also made a criminal referral of John Eastman, a lawyer acting as then-President Trump’s attorney in the weeks leading up to and during Jan. 6, for obstruction of an official proceeding, and voted to refer House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), as well as Reps. Scott Perry (R - PA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Jim Jordan (R - OH), to the House Ethics Committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas.

👀 Looking ahead… The Jan. 6 committee is expected to publish its final report tomorrow, after which it’ll disband with the forming of a new Republican-led House in January. You can read an exec summary of said final report here.

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