January 6 Committee Recommends Criminal Charges Against Donald Trump

Former US president Donald Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice on four criminal counts in response to the January 6, 20221 Capitol riot.

At its final public hearing, the committee investigating the riot has recommended   the charges of obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and insurrection are considered against Mr Trump.

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The Department of Justice is not required to act on the recommendations and is currently conducting its own investigation into the riot.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin announced the referrals.

“The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” he said.

“Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.”

A full report of the investigation is expected to be released on Thursday, Australia time, however a preview was revealed of some of the findings against Mr Trump which included:

• Purposely disseminating false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election
• Corruptly pressuring vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes
• Attempting to enlist justice department officials to make purposely false statements and thereby aid his effort to overturn the presidential election
• Unlawfully pressuring state officials and legislators to change the results of the election in their states
• Plotting to overturn the election outcome 

The January 6 committee is just one of several investigations into the riot which killed five people, including a police officer while a further 140 officers were injured.

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