Donald Trump should never hold public office again: Jan 6 Committee

Former US President Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

US former President Donald Trump should not be allowed to run for public office ever, the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection recommended in their final report, The New York Times reported.

In the 800-page final report, late Thursday, the committee came up with 11 recommendations to prevent any future attacks like the US Capitol attack of January 6, 2021.

Among the recommendations listed, the reform of the Electoral Count Act to clarify that a vice president has no authority to reject electoral slates submitted by the states; wholesale expansion of federal law enforcement agencies' scrutiny of extremist groups, including white nationalists and violent anti-government groups; and designation of the counting of electoral votes by Congress every four years as a "National Special Security Event," like inaugurals and State of the Union addresses.

The recommendations came as the committee released its final report after approving the referral of multiple criminal charges against Trump.

On December 19, the House Committee found Trump ultimately responsible for the insurrection, laying out for the public and the Justice Department a trove of evidence for why he should be prosecuted for multiple crimes, according to CNN.

Also Read: A case for trying Donald Trump

Over eight chapters, the committee wove together evidence drawn from thousands of documents and more than 1,000 witness interviews to argue that Trump embarked on an orchestrated plan to remain in office despite his election loss, pressuring state officials, the Justice Department and his own vice president to help him. Ultimately, the committee argues, he inspired his supporters to commit violence in his name, reported The New York Times.

"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," the panel's chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), said in the foreword to the report.

What will come of the recommendations is another matter. The committee is preparing to disband within days as the Republicans take over the House, with four of the committee's nine members -- including its two Republicans -- not returning in the new Congress.

Trump quickly issued a statement on the Truth Social website seeking to discredit the committee's work, falsely blaming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for the violence on January 6.

On December 19, the panel showed the summary of how Trump tried to overpower, pressure, and cajole anyone who wasn't willing to help him overturn his election defeat -- while knowing that many of his schemes were unlawful. His relentless arm-twisting included election administrators in key states, senior Justice Department leaders, state lawmakers, and others. The report even suggests possible witness tampering with the committee's investigation, reported CNN.

The committee repeatedly uses forceful language to describe Trump's intent that he "purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud" to aid his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and successfully solicit about USD 250 million in political contributions. "These false claims provoked his supporters to violence on January 6th", it said.

The full report, based on 1,000-plus interviews, documents collected including emails, texts, phone records and a year and a half of investigation by the nine-member bipartisan committee, will be released Wednesday, along with transcripts and other materials collected in the investigation, reported CNN.

The House committee lays out a number of criminal statutes it believes were violated in the plots to stave off Trump's defeat and says there's evidence for criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Trump, Trump attorney John Eastman and "others."

The report summary says there's evidence to pursue Trump on multiple crimes, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, assisting or aiding an insurrection, conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy, reported CNN.

Trump's false victory was 'premeditated'. The committee outlines 17 findings from its investigation that underpin its reasoning for criminal referrals, including that Trump knew the fraud allegations he was pushing were false and continued to amplify them anyway.

"President Trump's decision to declare victory falsely on election night and, unlawfully, to call for the vote counting to stop, was not a spontaneous decision. It was premeditated," the summary stated.

The select committee is referring several Republican lawmakers, who refused to cooperate with the investigation, to the House Ethics Committee.

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