After gripping Capitol riot hearings -- will Trump be indicted?

A video of former US president Donald Trump is displayed on a screen during a hearing by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol

Should Donald Trump be prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US election?

The question, laden with consequences, hangs over Washington following the conclusion of a series of hearings by the House panel probing the attack on the US Capitol.

The weighty decision to potentially bring charges against the former president rests essentially with one man: Attorney General Merrick Garland.

- The potential charges -

Trump knew he lost the election -- his advisors told him so and his legal challenges went nowhere -- but he continued to insist it was "stolen" by Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump summoned his supporters to Washington, telling them in a fiery speech near the White House to "fight like hell."

As for specific crimes, legal analysts said that Trump could face at least two charges: "conspiracy to defraud the United States" for seeking to overturn the election results and "obstruction of an official proceeding" for the Capitol attack.

- The political fallout -

"Indicting a past and possible future political adversary of the current president would be a cataclysmic event from which the nation would not soon recover," said Jack Goldsmith, who served as an assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration.

Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, said prosecuting the former president would be a "catastrophic misstep by Trump's enemies" that could even wind up giving him a boost politically.

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, argued that not holding Trump accountable would be equally harmful.

- The attorney general -

He said recently the January 6 probe is the "most important" Justice Department investigation ever and it has to "get this right."

A former prosecutor and judge, Garland was appointed attorney general by Biden after being famously deprived of a seat on the Supreme Court by the Republican-controlled Senate in 2016.

Tribe, Garland's former professor at Harvard, said he believes the attorney general will ultimately indict Trump.

- The Trump defense -

In a 12-page statement released in mid-June, Trump said the House committee was "making a mockery of justice."

"Democrats created the narrative of January 6th to detract from the much larger and more important truth that the 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen," he said.

"Not just that he obstructed the congressional proceeding by making it virtually impossible to count the votes and certify the election, but that's what he intended to do," Banks said.

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