Jan. 6 committee chair expects panel to issue criminal referrals to DOJ

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

The chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., expects the panel to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, he told reporters Tuesday. “We have made decisions on criminal referrals,” Thompson said.  Thompson said the panel has yet to formalize its decision. He also declined to say which individuals would be subject to the referrals or how many he expects the panel to make.

Thompson later told reporters that he thinks there is “general agreement” on the panel that referrals will be issued. “But we’re not there yet,” he said. “I wish I could tell you one, two, three, four but that’s all still being discussed.” In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for the committee said it “has determined that referrals to outside entities should be considered as a final part of its work,” and that it will make “decisions about specifics in the days ahead.”

Committee members previously signaled the possibility of sending multiple criminal referrals to the Justice Department involving former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results based on evidence they’ve uncovered investigating the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol.

Last July, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair and one of two Republicans on the panel, told ABC News that the committee would make a decision about whether to alert the Justice Department to possible crimes it has uncovered.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-committee-chair-expects-panel-issue-criminal-referrals-doj-rcna60335

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Article updated.

Previous article -

The chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., expects the panel to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, he told reporters Tuesday. "We have made decisions on criminal referrals," Thompson said. Thompson said the panel has yet to formalize its decision. He also declined to say which individuals would be subject to the referrals or how many he expects the panel to make.

Committee members previously signaled the possibility of sending multiple criminal referrals to the Justice Department involving former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results based on evidence they've uncovered investigating the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol.

Last July, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair and one of two Republicans on the panel, told ABC News that the committee would make a decision about whether to alert the Justice Department to possible crimes it has uncovered. "The Justice Department doesn't have to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral, and there could be more than one criminal referral," she said on ABC's "This Week" in July.

Cheney pointed to one of the committee's public hearings in June that featured explosive testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, former top aide to Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. In her testimony, Hutchinson detailed outbursts of rage from Trump as he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, which included demanding his aides get rid of magnetometers near the White House before he addressed a "Stop the Steal" rally on the Ellipse.

Original article -

House Jan. 6 committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., expects the panel to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, he told reporters Tuesday.

"We have made decisions on criminal referrals," Thompson said.

Thompson said the panel has yet to formalize its decision. He also declined to say which individuals would be subject to the referrals or how many he expects the panel to make.

Committee members previously signaled the possibility of the panel sending multiple criminal referrals to the Justice Department involving former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

[republianmushroom]

1. LIKE

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. There is only ONE person they can criminally refer....TDFG!

January 6th was HIS doing from after the last votes were cast in 2020.

America told him, "YOU'RE FIRED!"

[FakeNoose]

3. This is awesome news - like a early "Merry Christmas"

[electric_blue68]

4. Oooo 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

[onetexan]

5. MSNBC has a chiron on now "1/6 CMTE has 'made decisions' on criminal referrals"

so they've already decided they will make the referral to DOJ.

[intrepidity]

6. I thought they already did?

What was that thing they voted on at the end of their last televised meeting?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. They had announced and voted for issuing a subponena for 45 to testify

(and they did in fact do so although we know what happened with that)

[intrepidity]

8. Thanks

I coulda sworn it was for a referral, but likely just wishful thinking (or precognition, lol).

[BumRushDaShow]

9. I think part of the closing remarks

mentioned possibly doing referrals as well. But by issuing a subpoena that they knew would probably be "refused", they could use that as a justification to do a referral of him. Otherwise on what basis, from the Congressional standpoint, would they need to do a referral related to him or others other than a refusal to comply with a legally executed subpoena for info and/or testimony?

The referrals would be to request that DOJ "enforce" the subpoena(s) on their behalf (which is what they did with Bannon and secured a conviction for "Contempt of Congress" ).

[intrepidity]

10. Gotcha.

Not well versed in the details of how DOJ referrals work, but that makes sense I guess. Funny that the Committee can point out an infraction against them (their subpoena) but don't have standing to do the same for actual seditious conspiracy--which is what their hearings uncovered.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Remember that Congress is merely a "Legislative/law-making body"

They "write the laws" (after having hearings and testimony and then drafting bills) and the Executive Branch carries out those laws, and DOJ is part of the Executive.

Before retiring, I worked for a federal agency for over 30 years and also had instances where I had to interact with DOJ to do any criminal actions against firms under my agency's purview based on our evidence-gathering (I worked in a lab). Most federal agencies are "regulatory" and not "law enforcement". So just like Congress, we rely on the enforcement federal agencies to work with our own lawyers to do court-authorized subpoenas, search and seizure warrants, injunctions, criminal prosecutions of company heads, etc., as needed, and have them argue cases if any actually made it to trial, all on our behalf.

But in either our case or Congress, DOJ doesn't generally preemptively "reach in and grab work" unless it is clearly a violation of some criminal statute that they have gathered evidence about. Congress and regulatory agencies have their own internal processes that they go through before finally handing something off to DOJ, as in MOST cases, stuff gets resolved with little or no need for DOJ's involvement. But there will often be that tiny % of freak cases like this..

[SheltieLover]

12. Excellent! 👏👏👏👏

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Nicolle Wallace discussing this right now on MSNBC

[SheltieLover]

14. SC likely pawing the ground in the starting gate!

...and Depends stock likely just skyrocketed again!

[BumRushDaShow]

15. LOL