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Jan. 6 Panel Shut Down as New Republican-Led House Sworn In

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Jan. 6 Panel Shut Down as New Republican-Led House Sworn In
Former President Donald Trump is displayed on a screen during a meeting of the Jan. 6 House select committee in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
1/3/2023
Updated:
1/4/2023
0:00

The Jan. 6 House Select Committee officially dissolved a day prior to Republicans taking the majority in the House on Jan. 3, wrapping up a whirlwind 18-month investigation of the 2021 Capitol breach.

The committee said it has sent its work to the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with a recommendation for prosecuting former President Donald Trump for four criminal charges including insurrection and conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

The anticipated conclusion came right before a new Republican-led House is sworn in. While many have already departed, remaining aides of the committee have spent the last two weeks releasing many of the panel’s materials, including transcripts of witness testimony and its 814-page final report that referred the former president for criminal charges.

Lawmakers said they wanted to make their work public to underscore the seriousness of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the election.

“Accountability is now critical to thwart any other future scheme to overturn an election,” wrote Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in a departing message released on Jan. 2.

“We have made a series of criminal referrals, and our system of Justice is responsible for what comes next. Others have a critical role to play as well, including state bars and others who oversee the lawyers involved in the plots we exposed,” the two said.

Jan. 6 Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mass.) and Jan. 6 Committee Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Jan. 6 Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mass.) and Jan. 6 Committee Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Some of the committee’s work—such as videotape of hundreds of witness interviews—will not be made public immediately. The committee is sending those videos and some other committee records to the National Archives, which by law would make them available in 50 years. Members of the committee said they didn’t release that videotape now because it would have been too difficult to edit it and redact sensitive information.

Incoming GOP leaders may try to get those materials much sooner, though. A provision in a package of proposed House rules released Sunday calls for the National Archives to transfer “any records related to the committee” back to the House no later than Jan. 17.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the potential next House speaker in the new Congress, told the House Jan. 6 committee in late November to preserve the findings, including official congressional records that do not align with members’ “political agenda.” It is unclear whether the GOP-led House could enforce the provision and what they would do with the materials.
McCarthy had also vowed early last year to look into the alleged missteps of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her appointees in preparing the Capitol in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally.

Prolonged Investigation

The Monday statement marks the end of one of the most aggressive and wide-ranging congressional investigations in recent memory.

The Jan. 6 Committee was formed after the Democrat-majority House narrowly voted in its favor on June 30, 2021. Pelosi had initiated a resolution to create the committee to probe the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The nine-member committee has been criticized for its apparent partisanship, in part because the only two Republicans on the panel—Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)—are both known for their strong opposition to Trump.

The panel had formally or informally interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, collected more than 1 million documents, and held 10 public hearings with little interference, before concluding at the end that Trump coordinated a “conspiracy” on multiple levels, and inspired supporters to attack the Capitol and interrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s win. The panel recommended that the Justice Department prosecute Trump on four crimes, including aiding an insurrection and obstruction.

Although this was the first time lawmakers had referred a former president for criminal prosecution, so-called criminal referrals have no real legal standing, meaning the DOJ is not obliged to act upon the Jan. 6 panel’s recommendations. A charge of insurrection though, if convicted, would bar Trump from running for office again. The former president announced in November that he would seek another White House run in 2024.
Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) preside over a Joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College results after protestors stormed the Capitol earlier in the day in Washington on Jan. 6, 2020. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) preside over a Joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College results after protestors stormed the Capitol earlier in the day in Washington on Jan. 6, 2020. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump, meanwhile, dismissed the Jan. 6 committee’s criminal referrals, saying that the panel has leveled “fake charges” against him. He called the release of the committee’s final report a “witch hunt,” failing to study the root reason for the Jan. 6 protest, which he alleged was election fraud.

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” Trump wrote in a statement posted on his Truth Social platform on Dec. 19 in response to the panel’s criminal referrals.

He added, “Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6., and that I went on television and told everyone to go home.”

Speaking on behalf of the now-dissolved committee, Thompson and Cheney said on Monday that they did “what was necessary at this moment in our Nation’s history ... regardless of the consequences for ourselves or our politics.”

“We trust that history will continue to illuminate more details of January 6th and its aftermath,” their message read.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.