January 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump

Donald Trump has been accused of causing the US Capitol riots, with the committee investigating the events handing down its final report.

Donald Trump should be barred from holding office again, according to the congressional committee investigating the US Capitol riot which found he was the “one man” to blame.

The committee, which voted earlier this week to refer the former president for criminal prosecution, called on Congress to consider blocking Mr Trump from returning to the White House under the US Constitution’s ban on insurrectionists.

“The central cause of January 6 was one man, former president Donald Trump, whom many others followed,” the report said.

“None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.”

Donald Trump is one step closer to criminal charges over the Capitol riots. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump attacked what he said was a “highly partisan” committee, declaring the report was a “WITCH HUNT!”.

He maintained with no evidence that “TRUMP WON!!!” the 2020 presidential election.

The committee’s 845-page report, based on its 18-month probe of the violent attack on the Capitol by Mr Trump’s supporters, made a series of recommendations including tougher penalties for those who threaten election workers and a stronger national effort to take on extremist groups.

It backed changes passed this week to reform electoral laws to make it clear that the vice president has no power to change the election vote.

Mike Pence, Mr Trump’s vice president, stood firm in the face of the president’s efforts to force him to overturn the results on January 6 last year.

TRUMP’S BIZARRE REACTION TO CRIMINAL REFERRAL

Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the presidential election, according to the congressional committee investigating last year’s US Capitol riot.

The former president has been referred to the Justice Department for potential prosecution over allegations of inciting an insurrection, conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to make a false statement and obstructing an official proceeding of Congress.

The referral does not compel any action by the Justice Department – which is already investigating Mr Trump’s refusal to relinquish power after the 2020 election – but it marks the first time in history that Congress has sought the criminal prosecution of a former president.

A conviction for inciting insurrection could disqualify Mr Trump from returning to the White House, despite having already launched a new presidential campaign last month.

Former US President Donald Trump says the referral for potential criminal charges is an “attempt to sideline me”. Picture: AFP

He claimed the referral was a “partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party”.

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me,” Mr Trump said in a statement.

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

The committee, in its final public hearing on Tuesday (AEDT), also shared new segments of an interview with the former president’s communications director Hope Hicks, who urged Mr Trump to encourage his followers to remain peaceful during their January 6 demonstration.

She said she was becoming “increasingly concerned that we were damaging his legacy”.

The final hearing of the committee investigating the Capitol riot. Picture: AFP

But Ms Hicks said Mr Trump responded by saying: “Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning.”

Committee chairman Bennie Thompson said Mr Trump “lost the 2020 election and knew it”.

“But he chose to try and stay in office through a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power,” the Democratic congressman said.

“We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a road map to justice.”

Mr Thompson added after the hearing: “I’m convinced the Justice Department will charge former president Trump. No one – including a former president – is above the law.”

Mr Trump had told his supporters to “fight like hell” before they stormed the US Capitol building in an effort to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

Five people died and more than 140 law enforcement officers were injured in the riot.

The committee’s final report is expected to be released later this week after an 18-month investigation that interviewed more than 1000 witnesses and obtained more than one million documents.

Several of Mr Trump’s key allies have also been referred for criminal prosecution.

Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Trump’s spokesman dismissed the expected criminal referral by arguing the committee – featuring seven Democrats and two Republicans – was a “kangaroo court” that held “show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history”.