In its final meeting on Monday, the House Jan. 6 Committee referred former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal charges for the 2021 Capitol Insurrection.
The committee said Trump’s referrals were for obstruction of an official proceeding, defrauding the U.S., making false statement and “aiding” or “comforting” an insurrection.
“It is historic, unprecedented even for Congress to find that a former president has violated the law and even committed in fact multiple criminal offenses and to refer those to the Justice Department,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) told KNX In Depth.
“And it is a sad day. It’s something that we do I think solemnly and knowing the import of what we’ve gone about, but we followed the evidence where it led, as was our commitment from the very beginning and that evidence led to Donald Trump.”
Schiff went on to add Trump “engaged in multiple efforts to overturn the presidential election” despite knowing he lost the election and being told by “his own attorney general and others on his campaign team and the White House Council.”
“Nonetheless, he continued to push these bogus claims on fraud, made submissions in court and pressured state legislators, pressured his own vice president and ultimately incited a mob to attack the Capitol and further interrupt the peaceful transition of power,” he said
In addition to Trump’s referrals, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as Reps. Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs were referred to Ethics Committee. That committee, Schiff said, is “equally divided between the parties.”
When it comes to those who believe the former president did nothing wrong, Schiff encourages them to take a look at the evidence.
“Read the report, you can dismiss it if you will, but at least acquaint yourself with the evidence,” Schiff advised.
Listen to Rep. Schiff’s full interview with In Depth in the audio above.
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