Jan. 6 committee votes to refer Trump to DOJ on multiple criminal charges

The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot is dropping several of its pursuits for Jan. 6-related phone records, according to court filings last week, as the panel winds down before it expires at the end of this year.

The committee sent out dozens of subpoenas seeking call logs, including to major phone companies, as part of its investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election result. But several Trump allies sued, contesting the committee’s authority, and Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile agreed not to turn over any data to the House while those lawsuits were litigated in court. Few of the cases have been resolved.

That means the House select committee will not be able to incorporate in its final report some of the information it long sought about the communications of top witnesses around Donald Trump and the White House in late 2020 and January 2021. The panel plans to release the report next week.

Last week, the committee withdrew its phone-records subpoenas related to Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, White House aide Stephen Miller, elections attorney Cleta Mitchell, conservative political activist Roger Stone, some Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants and Amy Harris, a photojournalist who spent time with top members of the Proud Boys around Jan. 6, 2021, according to filings in seven House subpoena challenges that were pending in the DC District Court.

“On December 12, 2022, Plaintiffs were informed by counsel for the Select Committee that the Select Committee will be withdrawing the subject subpoena issued by the Committee,” one court filing, from lawyers representing members of the Oath Keepers extremist group, wrote in one recent request to drop a lawsuit.

Some of the subpoenas were issued a year ago.The committee declined to comment.

While these witnesses and some others successfully blocked the committee from obtaining their phone records, the panel was able to access unprecedented amounts of information in their investigation, including through other phone records subpoenas, other document requests and witness interviews. Some of that information was on display in a series of public hearings over the summer.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters last week that the panel will make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department in Monday's meeting.

What this means: Criminal referrals would largely be symbolic in nature. The committee lacks prosecutorial powers, and the Justice Department does not need a referral from Congress to investigate crimes as it has its own criminal investigations into the Capitol attack ongoing.

Committee members see criminal referrals as a critical part of their work, putting their views on the record in order to complete their investigation – not as a way to pressure DOJ, sources have told CNN.

Thompson told CNN that the panel is looking at five to six categories of referrals beyond those deemed criminal, but has not decided on the specific number of individuals.

Thompson said that in addition to criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, there could be other categories of referrals the committee makes such as ethics referrals to the House Ethics Committee, bar discipline referrals and campaign finance referrals.

Thompson told reporters last Tuesday that Monday’s public meeting will include a presentation and cover the names of people facing criminal and other referrals, as will as the basis for those referrals.

A subcommittee of members has made recommendations to the full committee about various referrals. During the public meeting, the full committee is expected to vote on adopting the subcommittee’s recommendations.

CNN reported earlier this month that the committee is considering criminal referrals for at least four individuals in addition to former President Donald Trump,

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol is set to lay out its findings in a final report. When and how the events occurred that day have been a key part of the committee’s probe since the panel formed in July 2021.

Supporters of then-President Trump breached the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, engulfing the building in chaos after Trump urged his supporters to protest against the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes to certify President Biden's win. 

Here's how key events unfolded throughout the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump’s speech: 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement earlier on the evening of Jan. 6 that congressional leadership wanted to continue with the joint session that night. 

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor that the "United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats." 

It took until deep in the early hours of Thursday morning (Jan. 7, 2021), but Congress eventually counted and certified Biden's election win. 

See the full timeline of events here. 

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters the committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and that the panel’s full report will come out December 21.

Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said the committee will approve the panel’s final report on Dec. 19 and make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but the public will not see the final report until two days later.

“We will do all of the business of the committee on the 19th,” Thompson said, which includes voting on the final report.

Members of the committee have promised to have the committee’s report released before the end of the year, as Republicans are expected to dissolve the committee when they take over the chamber in the next Congress.

Read more here.

Former President Donald Trump, whose third White House bid has already become mired in controversy, is facing a myriad of legal issues, alongside his business and allies.

Aside from the Jan. 6 committee's probe, here are some other notable investigations involving Trump:

Tax returns.The House Ways and Means Committee finally got access to the former president’s tax returns after the Supreme Court dealt a massive defeat to Trump, paving the way for the Internal Revenue Service to hand over the documents to the Democratic-led House. The committee's chairman, Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, first sought the tax returns from the IRS in 2019, and the agency, under the Trump administration, initially resisted turning them over.

Mar-a-Lago documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the Justice Department criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Trump’s resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

The Justice Department investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were brought to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office. A federal grand jury in Washington has been empaneled and has interviewed potential witnesses to how Trump handled the documents.

2020 Election. The Justice Department has an investigation of its own into the post-2020 election period. While DOJ has not acted publicly during the so-called quiet period leading up to the midterms, a grand jury in Washington has been hearing from witnesses.

Meanwhile, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis is overseeing a special grand jury investigating what Trump or his allies may have done in their efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. The probe was launched following Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed the Republican to “find” votes to overturn the election results.

Trump Organization. New York Attorney General Letitia James, after a lengthy investigation, sued Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization in September, alleging they were involved in an expansive fraud lasting over a decade that the former president used to enrich himself.

James alleged the fraud touched all aspects of the Trump business, including its properties and golf courses. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals.

Read more about other investigations here.

Members of the House select committee have been investigating what happened before, after and during the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Now they are getting ready to present their findings in a final report.

The committee is made up of 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans. It was formed after efforts to create an independent 9/11-style commission failed. 

Rep. Liz Cheney is one of two Republicans on the panel appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all five of his selections because Pelosi would not accept two of his picks. In July 2021, Pelosi invited GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to join the committee, making him the second GOP lawmaker to sit on the committee. 

Here's who is on the panel:

Democrats: 

Republicans 

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is set to make announcements at its final public meeting on Monday about criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

So what is a criminal referral? A referral represents a recommendation that the Justice Department investigate and look at charging the individuals in question. The House committee’s final report – to be released Wednesday – will provide justification from the panel’s investigation for recommending the charges.

But any move by the Jan. 6 panel to approve a referral would be largely symbolic because a referral by no means obligates federal prosecutors to bring such a case.

With the federal investigation now being led by special counsel Jack Smith, it appears Justice Department investigators are already looking at much of the conduct that the select committee has highlighted.

But whether the department brings charges will depend on whether the facts and the evidence support a prosecution, Attorney General Merrick Garland has said. Garland will make the ultimate call on charging decisions.

In addition to criminal referrals, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the chair of the Jan. 6 committee, has said the panel could issue five to six other categories of referrals, such as ethics referrals to the House Ethics Committee, bar discipline referrals and campaign finance referrals.

CNN's Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz contributed reporting to this post.

Michael Fanone, a former DC police officer and CNN law enforcement analyst, told CNN he would like to see the referrals from the Jan. 6 committee lead to an indictment of former President Donald Trump.  

Fanone was beaten by rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

“I would like to see those individuals put on trial and then again, as I've said many times, as Americans we should accept the results of those trials, even if it includes a guilty verdict for former President Donald Trump and jail time,” he said.

Fanone also said he is “hopeful” the Justice Department will bring an indictment against Trump. 

When the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol delivers its ultimate conclusion to the public this week – holding a final public meeting on Monday and announcing expected criminal referrals to the Justice Department, followed by the release of its full report on Wednesday – the White House is expected to watch quietly and decline to offer judgment on any recommendations that the panel may make to the Justice Department.

For much of the year, top White House officials have made painstaking efforts to avoid delivering specific commentary on the panel’s work. There was one goal in particular of utmost urgency: staying clear of any moves that might suggest that the White House was trying to exert influence on the DOJ.

And those efforts are likely to become even more imperative for the Biden White House after the committee refers at least three criminal charges against former President Donald Trump to the DOJ, as a source familiar with the matter said the committee was expected to do this week.

One White House official told CNN ahead of the committee’s upcoming last meeting on Monday that it would continue to not weigh in on any potential referrals or actions that the panel may take. Another official said this would be in line with the White House’s efforts this year to avoid “running pundit” on the panel’s work.

But officials also noted that President Biden himself has been clear in his public remarks about the significance of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, the importance of the committee’s work, not to mention his rejection of last year’s insurrection and the threats to the country’s democratic systems. 

Indeed, Biden made that a central theme of his political message in the lead-up to the midterm elections – that decision drew criticism from some fellow Democrats who argued he needed to have a nearly singular focus on the economy, but ultimately left the White House feeling vindicated after Democrats far outperformed expectations. 

And in the rare moments that Biden did directly comment on the committee, he made clear that he believes the members are doing work critical to documenting history. 

“It’s important the American people understand what truly happened and to understand that the same forces that led January 6 remain at work today,” Biden said this summer.

In October, following a hearing that revealed evidence and testimony from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchison who said Trump continued efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election even though he knew he had lost reelection, Biden described the testimony and video as “absolutely devastating.”