House Jan. 6 Panel to Begin Issuing Criminal Referrals Over Capitol Riot, Chairman Says
A video of President Donald Trump recording a statement on Jan. 7, 2021, is played, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 21, 2022. 
The House Select Committee Investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol was formed in July 2021. It has been investigating what happened on January 6, 2021, and if former President Donald Trump or his allies instigated the attack.The House Select Committee Investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol will begin issuing criminal referrals to the Justice Department, the panel’s chairman announced on Tuesday.Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who also serves as the chairman of the panel, did not specify who the committee would make referrals for, but a source told CNN that they would be focused on the organizers and leaders of the attacks.The discussion will include if witnesses perjured themselves when speaking in front of the committee, Thompson said.The committee is set to meet later Tuesday. There is no specific timeline on when the committee will make its recommendations but the criminal referrals will be a separate document from the committee’s final report to the DOJ.A subcommittee has been created to present several options on how the committee wants to present its findings to the DOJ. It includes Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin (MD), Adam Schiff (CA) and Zoe Lofgren (CA). The subcommittee’s sole Republican lawmaker is Rep. Liz Cheney (WY). Cheney, a longtime critic of Trump, lost her seat to Harriet Hageman, a Trump-backed candidate, during the GOP’s primary election in August. She will not be a part of the next Congress.The committee is expected to make recommendations related to charges of perjury, obstruction and witness tampering, among other criminal charges.The Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation into January 6, 2021, and does not need the select committee’s referral to file criminal charges. The committee cannot file charges on its own, making its recommendations largely a symbolic act. Still, the debate over whether the committee should recommend charges against former President Donald Trump has been a major focus of the proceedings.Trump and his allies have been accused of leading a mob to attack the Capitol building to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden. In addition to the investigations by the DOJ and the House select committee, authorities in Georgia are also trying to determine whether Trump or his allies attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state.
