The January 6th House Committee has seemingly concluded the investigation and plans to release information surrounding the insurrection on December 21st. The committee’s representative, Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing the second congressional district of Mississippi, said in a statement that he believes the committee will make criminal referrals, and is even considering one for former President Donald Trump and his close allies.
The report will most probably include ideas for future legislation in an effort to prevent the riots from happening again, although these bills may have to go through strenuous committee, and the document is said to be almost 8 pages long, according to Thompson. It is important to note that referrals from committees serve nearly no legal weight, but can serve as advocates for change in legislation or agenda. However, that being said, most of the members in the committee believe a criminal referral is necessary to finalize their work.
According to the committee, Trump “summoned” people to the White House after refusing to accept election results, claiming the election was “stolen” and “rigged”. Facebook groups were formed rallying for Trump, who on the day of the 6th said "We will never give up. We will never concede."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/january-6-committee-criminal-referrals/index.html
12 comments:
Although the 1/6 insurrection looms Trump's Reputation, if this House committee decides to give a criminal referral to Trump, it really doesn't seem like it'll do much to affect Trump's path towards re-election. Americans are fully aware of what Trump did, and a symbolic declaration of crime doesn't seem like it would convince any Trump-supporters to change political views.
What's the point of a criminal referral for the president when it has no legal power nor any affect on his reputation? Perhaps I'm mistaken and the December 21st decision will bring about new surprises.
In the end, even if the referral is meaningless, I'm always welcome to more condemnation towards the violence and extremism displayed on January 6th.
Clearly the investigation and plans for criminal referrals is a step in the right direction, but I do think it is concerning that it is unlikely any legal change will come from this. There may be some hope that an event such as the one on January 6 may be prevented from occurring again based on possible new legislation, it is unclear as to whether this criminal referral would even affect Trump in any way. I have doubts that this criminal referral would even have an effect on Trump’s reelection so all this effort may truly be for nothing. However, I would argue that these referrals might bring light to the dangers of what happened and encourage the public to never let such an event happen again.
Unfortunately, I think this entire January 6th investigation is a complete waste of time. It is evident that Trump initiated the insurrection with his rhetoric on January 6th and during the election, but a vast majority of the Republican party does not care. Those who support the investigation are voters who already would not vote for Trump in 2024. With the continuous fraud involving his business, personal affairs, and unhinged comments, this is nothing new. Trump said it himself in 2016 stating, “I could shoot someone and I would not lose voters.” At the time this seemed insane, but I think we all can agree that he is right! His supporters do not care about anything he does, blindly following him and his various conspiracies. This investigation will do absolutely nothing to stop Trump and his run for 2024 which should be very scary to the American people and American democracy.
Nick brings up a great point. However, I support the idea for legislation to prevent this from happening again. Jan. 6 put the US on the brink of falling apart, and it can never happen again if we want a healthy democracy.
I agree with Ben and Amy that even though I don't think a criminal referral will do much for Trump, but securing legal action to prevent similar events from happening in the future is a win. It's almost been two years since the incident on capitol hill and many of the people involved have already been arrested or prosecuted. A major event in American history that threatened democracy deserved the attention to put legislation into place against people who tried to raid and take charge of a democratic process. Supporting this event is similar to supporting "Stop The Steal" in which it makes candidates look idiotic, and clearly did not convince a majority of people to give the GOP a "red wave" during the 2022 mid-term elections.
As many comments mention, the criminal referral wouldn't actually do much to affect Trump. I agree with that because most people who support Trump support him so thoroughly that nothing can change their view. Just like they believe he didn't lose the election, they would consider the criminal referral was also rigged. However, I do think it is necessary to follow through with it. It sends a message that this type of insurrection won't stand. Also, there are more and more republicans who are leaving the "Trump party" and speaking out against him. This type of message from the House is exactly what causes many Trump supporters (those that can still be saved) to reconsider their views. It is similar to when Trump was impeached. Everyone knew that he wouldn't be convicted in the Republican-dominated Senate yet he was still impeached in the house as a way of sending a message.
I don't know how much there is to say anymore about the situation. I think it's clear that the criminal investigation/referral isn't going to do anything to Trump. Previous criminal investigations haven't gone anywhere. He's running again in 2024, and surprisingly still has a solid base, even if the republican party is divided.
I slightly disagree with comments saying that the referral won't do anything to Trump. Republicans, especially ones backed by Trump, did much worse in the midterms than was expected. One reason that (some) Americans are turning away from Trumpism could be the House investigations and more publicity regarding Trump's crimes. While I agree that it's unlike that anything major happens directly to Trump, such as a conviction that prevents him from running for President again, the House referral could continue to decrease the approval of Trump of some Americans that would otherwise be fine with his well-known crimes.
I agree with Tyler, that the republicans backed by Trump don't have as much power or position as they used to have and this was shown in the midterms where they did very poorly. I agree this will cause laws that will stop anything similar to happen in the future but I do believe that if Trump is charged with anything it would be for Racketeering and even so would most likely be a fall guy Trump would use to save himself and his race. I do believe that after the incidents of January 6th, he definitely does not have as much power in the republican party with some members staying away from him and causing a division in the party.
I agree with Ben that even though a criminal referral will be given to Trump due to the insurrection he created through his belief that the election was rigged, I doubt it's actually going to affect his potential re-election candidacy in 2024. The reason why this event actually happened was through his motivations or desires to show the world that the election was rigged and that's why he didn't win, and he has the power to do that, and with his wealth and power, nothing is going to be able to stop him from gaining what he wants, which is why this little criminal referral won't be powerful enough to stop him. With his ability to get away from a impeachment, he will have the ability to get away from this referral as well. In my opinion, they are not going to be able to stop Trump from trying to become president again despite the insurrection and what he has done in the past.
I agree with Tyler in the sense that the referral will have somewhat of an effect on Trump. Like Tyler said, nothing huge might happen to Trump specifically, but with the decline of his support and political presence, the referral has the ability to deter him from running again and to mitigate the power of his followers.
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