Jan. 6 committee releases final report, Trump responds ‘WITCH HUNT!’ [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The House Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol attack released its final report.
• The document was released days after the committee voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice Department for criminal investigation.
• Trump slammed the committee’s final report, calling it “highly partisan” and accusing the panel of engaging in a “WITCH HUNT.”

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack released its final report on Thursday, detailing evidence compiled by the panel relating to one of the most consequential events in U.S. history.

The report provides clear details of what transpired before, during and after the deadly riot.

The panel estimates that between the November election and the Jan.6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump or his inner circle “engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation, targeting either State legislators or State or local election administrators, to overturn State election results,” according to the report.

Trump’s actions were “taken in support of a multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election,” the panel wrote.

Tucked near the end of the Jan. 6 committee’s report is a list of 11 recommendations.

These include criminal and civil accountability for those accused of misconduct in the Jan. 6 report and asking Congress to create a formal mechanism to bar individuals from future office, using the 14th Amendment.

“Our country has come too far to allow a defeated President to turn himself into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions, fomenting violence, and, as I saw it, opening the door to those in our country whose hatred and bigotry threaten equality and justice for all Americans,” said committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in the report’s foreword.

Trump slammed the published final report on his Truth Social platform Thursday night, calling it “highly partisan” and accusing the panel of engaging in a “WITCH HUNT.”

“The highly partisan Unselect Committee Report purposely fails to mention the failure of Pelosi to heed my recommendation for troops to be used in D.C., show the ‘Peacefully and Patrioticly’ words I used, or study the reason for the protest, Election Fraud. WITCH HUNT!” the former president wrote.

The report follows the months-long investigation into the Capitol riot and preserves the panel’s findings before Republicans take control of the House next year and the Jan. 6 panel dissolves.

The committee voted Monday to refer Trump to the Department of Justice on at least four criminal charges, including insurrection and obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress.

On Wednesday, it released transcripts of 34 witness testimonies, including depositions with former Trump lawyer John Eastman and Trump’s acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.

The panel had said that it planned to make the final report public before the year ends.

The panel was also discussing how to address a number of witnesses who refused to comply with subpoenas, including Trump himself, former Vice President Mike Pence, and several Republican members of Congress.

Read the Jan. 6 committee’s full report via DocumentCloud.

Source: The Guardian