Jan. 6 committee says meeting on possible criminal references was ‘successful’

A Sunday meeting of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection was “successful,” a source told CNN.

Members of the committee, which has worked throughout the year to shed light on what happened in the build-up to the Capitol riot that threatened American democracy in 2021, met Sunday after noon to discuss possible criminal credentials for a group of people linked to the effort to overturn the result of the presidential election.

The subcommittee investigating criminal dismissals made its recommendations at the meeting. CNN reported that it is not yet known whether these recommendations have been adopted or amended by the full committee. The committee plans to announce its decision on December 21.

A criminal referral by the committee would have no immediate consequences, because the committee has no power to prosecute. The Justice Department has opened its own investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, and criminal charges may arise from that investigation.

Nonetheless, the committee has made it clear that it views its criminal referral recommendations as a statement of its findings about what happened on January 6 and who should be held accountable.

Four people potentially in line for criminal referrals are former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney John Eastman, former Donald Trump lawyer and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former department official of Justice Jeffrey Clark.

The four men were reportedly heavily involved in efforts to overturn the result of the presidential election, in which President Joe Biden defeated Mr Trump by a margin of 74 electoral votes. It’s unclear exactly what the charges suggested against these four men might be, or how many others might be considered for criminal remands.

Committee members reportedly feel that Mr. Trump and his close allies behaved criminally when they orchestrated the multi-pronged plot to overturn the election result and keep Mr. Trump in power, although it’s not clear that they always agreed on what to do in response.

“We agree on what our approach should be. I’m not prepared or authorized at this point to tell you what it is,” Rep. Adam Schiff, a committee Democrat, said on the CBS program. Confront the Nation just before Sunday’s meeting. “I think we all certainly agree that there is evidence of criminality here. And we want to make sure the Department of Justice is aware of that.”