Dem congressman suggests Trump could be 'on the hook for criminal liability' for Jan. 6 riot
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said that the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 could ultimately find former President Donald Trump was criminally liable for those hurt during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Swalwell answered questions about the text messages uncovered on the phone of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. He also noted that all of the information being uncovered now, including the thousands of pages of documents and text messages from Meadows, weren't handed over to the House during the second impeachment.
"We want to know what is Donald Trump thinking, what is he doing, not doing," Swalwell explained. "We now know that concerned Fox News hosts, concerned family members, concerned legislators who were with me in the chamber are all aiming their concerns at the White House, and Trump is doing nothing. And this is just one witness who is only giving us a very little amount of information, all the more reason to probe further."
The information matters, he explained, because "Donald Trump may be on the hook for criminal liability."
"It wasn't an accident that Liz Cheney laid out the elements of the offense of essentially not acting to save the Congress while we're performing the Electoral College count," he said. When Cheney spoke during the Monday evening committee hearing, she made the case for Trump's guilt of violating 18 USC 1505. The law makes it illegal to "corruptly, or by threats of force or by any threatening communication, influencing, obstructing, or impeding any pending proceeding pending before a department or agency of the United States, or Congress."
"There may be a criminal referral that could take place there," Swalwell explained. "They have a lot more to learn in that regard. It also matters for history, to hold the president accountable, if he did indeed incite and aim the mob at the Capitol and did nothing — it matters because Jan. 6, 2025, is not too far away. We're going to have to do this again. If we protect and harden the Capitol against an attack like this again, we need to know what went wrong on Jan. 6, 2021."
See the full interview below:
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