7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far

 

1. What’s in the four criminal referrals

1. Obstruction of an official proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)): The committee’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), spotlighted this law a year ago, which makes it a crime to “corruptly” seek to obstruct, influence or impede “any official proceeding,” or to attempt to do so. The official proceeding was Congress’s counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, which the committee says Trump tried to thwart through his various schemes and by directing his supporters to the Capitol after riling them up with false voter-fraud claims. The second key part of this charge is doing so “corruptly,” which is why the committee laid out extensive evidence that Trump was told his stolen-election claims were false, that participants knew their plot to overturn the election was illegal and that Trump acknowledged he had in fact lost. The committee also referred attorney John Eastman and others for violations of this statute.
2. Conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371): By citing this law to make a criminal referral of Trump, Eastman and others, the committee says that Trump did not work alone to commit the above offense. The committee did not “attempt to determine all of the potential participants in this conspiracy, as our understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomplete even today because they refuse to answer our questions,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) during Monday’s hearing.
3. Conspiracy to make a false statement (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001): This concerns the so-called “fake electors” plot. The committee alleges that Trump conspired with others to submit to Congress and the National Archives alternate slates of Trump electors from key states, which in some cases involved falsely asserting in a legal document that they had been duly elected. Some of the fake electors themselves have faced legal scrutiny because of this.
4. “Incite,” “assist” or provide “aid and comfort” an insurrection (18 U.S.C. § 2383): Trump was impeached for his alleged incitement of the mob but was later acquitted, despite a historic number of crossover votes by Republicans. The committee suggests Trump and others, through actions before and during the riot, satisfied each of the quoted words.

2. More evidence Trump resisted urging peace — even before Jan. 6

The committee has repeatedly pointed to Trump not only being negligent on Jan. 6, but perhaps approving of the violence that day (or at least perceiving some advantage in it). And the final report adds more details on that front.

Specifically, it says that:

• Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks texted a campaign aide during the riot that, on Jan. 4 and 5, she’d said Trump should preemptively call on those attending his speech on the Ellipse to be peaceful: “I suggested it several times Monday and Tuesday and he refused.” The request (which she did not make to Trump personally) fell upon deaf ears.
• Hicks also testified that White House lawyer Eric Herschmann made a similar request — in his case, to Trump himself, according to the committee.