House Jan. 6 committee to vote on criminal referrals, final report at last meeting

Washington — The House Jan. 6 committee is holding what is expected to be its final meeting on Monday, when members will vote on formally adopting the committee’s final report and possible criminal referrals to the Justice Department. 

The proceedings mark the culmination of the panel’s nearly 18-month-long investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which featured testimony from dozens of witnesses and a series of high-profile hearings that examined the assault and former President Donald Trump’s role in stoking his supporters to storm the building. CBS News will air the meeting as a special report at 1 p.m. ET on CBS television stations and its streaming network. 

The committee is expected to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department for potential prosecution, although the members have not confirmed who they will refer. 

Referrals by Congress are solely recommendations, and the Justice Department is under no obligation to bring charges against those referred for prosecution. Still, the committee’s referrals could increase political pressure on the department to act, and lawmakers could unveil new evidence in their final report that federal prosecutors have not yet accessed. 

The committee has already issued referrals for several Trump associates who refused to comply with subpoenas to appear before the committee, including former adviser Steve Bannon, who was tried and convicted on two charges of contempt of Congress.

In November, Attorney General Merrick Garland named Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s own probes into the former president, including alleged efforts to interfere with the transfer of power in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, one of the members of the committee, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he believes, as a former prosecutor, that the department has collected “sufficient” evidence to charge Trump. Schiff told “Face the Nation” on Dec. 11 that he believes the Justice Department has “made use” of evidence presented in the committee’s hearings, and will do the same for the information included in its report.

Trump has maintained he did nothing wrong on Jan. 6, and that the investigation by what he calls the “Unselect Committee of political hacks” is a “witch hunt.” 

The committee is sunsetting before the next Congress takes over in January. Four of its members are not returning to Congress: Rep. Liz Cheney lost the Republican primary in Wyoming in August to a Trump-backed challenger; Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria lost in the general election in November; and Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy opted not to run for reelection.