A new report from the New York Times claims that House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol is weighing whether to make criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump and some of his allies.
According to the Times' sources, "investigators for the committee are looking into whether a range of crimes were committed" by Trump and his allies.
The two major potential crimes so far revolve around whether Trump intended to corruptly obstruct an official act of Congress, and whether Republicans who raised money off false claims of the stolen election committed fraud by knowingly deceiving donors.
While the referrals would not be the same as actual indictments, they would put more pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to press charges against Trump and his allies.
"In recent weeks, the committee has publicly signaled its interest in the question of criminality," writes the Times. "Shortly after obtaining from Mr. Meadows 9,000 pages of documents — including text messages and a PowerPoint presentation — the panel’s top Republican, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, read from the criminal code at a televised hearing. She suggested that Mr. Trump, by failing to stop the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, might have violated the federal law that prohibits obstructing an official proceeding before Congress."
