Jan. 6 Committee to have public meeting with criminal referrals ahead of releasing final report: Thompson

WASHINGTON — The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election is set to release their final report on Dec. 21. On Tuesday, however, committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told reporters that they would be holding a public meeting on Monday, Dec. 19, at 1:00 p.m. EST, ahead of the report release.

He explained that the full report will likely be ready ahead of the 21st and that they decided to reveal some details sooner.

"We will do all of the business of the committee on the 19th," Thompson said. That will include votes on all criminal referrals and adopting the report before the committee is officially dissolved and the new Congress is sworn in.

The final print of the report will not be public until the 21st, but the meeting will show information and details at the meeting.

IN OTHER NEWS: McConnell goes right after Trump while taking victory lap on his 'candidate quality' prediction

The report will also have five or six referrals, he said. But those referrals were also clarified as "categories" that will detail the findings for the report.

"The difference — it's referrals. Some go one place. Some go another. So, they all don't go to the same place," said Thompson.

He said that criminal referrals that the "sub-committee" has been working on will be part of the discussion on the 19th.

Raw Story asked Thompson about the newly revealed text messages from Mark Meadows in which Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) says the president must declare martial law to stop Joe Biden from being able to take office. The Congressman, who likely had the information prior to the public release, said that he wasn't all that surprised.

He agreed that it "should be [disturbing] to any patriotic American that people would move to that level to want to declare martial law because your candidate lost the election."

With additional reporting by Matt Laslo