A new pebble in Trump’s shoe? The House of Inquiry into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 recommended, Monday, December 19, that criminal charges be launched against former President Donald Trump, in particular for calling for insurrection and conspiracy to against the American state. Non-binding, this call is no less historic, because it targets a former head of state, who immediately denounced a maneuver aimed, according to him, at hindering his new candidacy for the presidency.
The nine members of the commission – seven Democrats and two Republicans – voted unanimously in favor of these recommendations during a final public and live meeting, the end of which was greeted with applause in the room. It is the culmination of 18 months of investigation, during which elected officials interviewed a thousand people, examined a mountain of documents and held high-profile public hearings to prove that Donald Trump was “at the center” of events.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump, claiming – wrongly – like him that the 2020 presidential election had been “stolen” from him by Joe Biden, violently attacked the headquarters of Congress in Washington to stop the certification of the results, causing shake American democracy. By denying reality, Donald Trump has “broken” confidence in the democratic system, denounced Bennie Thompson, head of the commission. He “lit the wick, poured gasoline on the fire, and sat in the dining room of the White House for hours watching the fire burn, and to this day he continues to stoke these flames,” accused Democrat Elaine Luria.
“Unfit” to hold new public office
The number two on the commission, Republican Liz Cheney, Donald Trump’s pet peeve, judged that his actions had shown that he was “unfit” to hold new public office. A few hours later, the main interested party denounced “bogus prosecutions”. “All these stories aimed at prosecuting me are like the impeachment trial — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party,” he said on his Truth Social network. “What these people don’t understand is that when they come after me, those who love freedom gather around me. It makes me stronger,” added Donald Trump. On January 6, 2021, he called on his supporters to “fight like the devils”, without however expressly asking them to invade the Capitol.
The four charges recommended by the elected investigators are as follows: incitement to insurrection, conspiracy against the American state, obstruction of an official procedure (certification of a presidential election) and false declarations . The left-leaning Mother Jones magazine considers the report “devastating” for the accused. These grounds can lead to prison sentences and the prohibition to assume any public office, while the former president announced that he is relaunching in the race for the White House for 2024.
The commission’s vote is largely symbolic, as its members cannot indict the ex-real estate magnate themselves. It will be up to the Justice Department, which has appointed a special prosecutor to independently investigate Donald Trump, to decide whether to prosecute him or not. “The Ministry of Justice does not have to act accordingly”, specifies the washington post. On November 18, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special adviser, Jack Smith, who promised to act “quickly” and “in complete independence”.
Bennie Thompson said he was “convinced” on CNN that the department was going to indict the Republican. “No one, including a former president, is above the law,” he said. Asked about the subject, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the executive wanted “to be very careful not to politicize this process at all”. At least five people have died in connection with the assault and hundreds have been charged in connection with the violence. Responsible for shedding light on the acts and gestures of the former president before and during January 6, 2021, the elected officials sought to show that Donald Trump had tried to keep power when he knew he was beaten.
Donald Trump was “at the center” of an “attempted coup”, Bennie Thompson once said. The commission kept saying there was no way the Republican wouldn’t know he lost the election to Joe Biden. His Minister of Justice, a series of advisers, and even his own daughter, Ivanka… In testimony to the camera, several members of Donald Trump’s close guard said they did not believe his theories of “electoral fraud”. Donald Trump is also accused of having pressured his Vice President Mike Pence and election officials, particularly in Georgia and Arizona, to try to invalidate the presidential election.