Jan. 6 Committee gave DOJ an 'extraordinary wealth of evidence' for a Trump prosecution: legal experts

26 December 2022

When the January 6 Select Committee finished its comprehensive 845-page final report, it gave the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recommendations for four federal criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. Whether or not special counsel Jack Smith and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) decide to follow the committee’s recommendations remains to be seen; DOJ has the option of either following or rejecting them.

But according to some legal experts interviewed by The Guardian, the January 6 Select Committee has given Smith and DOJ a wealth of damning material to work with.

“The wealth of evidence against Trump compiled by the panel spurred its unprecedented decision to send the DOJ four criminal referrals for Trump and some top allies about their multi-track planning and false claims of fraud to block Joe Biden from taking office,” Guardian reporter Peter Stone explains in an article published the day after Christmas 2022. “Although the referrals do not compel the Justice Department to file charges against Trump or others, the enormous evidence the panel amassed should boost its investigations, say ex-federal prosecutors.”

The Guardian’s interviewees included former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich and Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who is now with Columbia University Law School in New York City.

Bromwich told The Guardian, “Although the referrals carry no legal weight, they provide an unusual preview of potential charges that may well be effective in swaying public opinion.”

Richman believes the January 6 Committee did “extraordinary” work with its final report.

According to Richmond, “Although the Committee’s hearings gave a good preview of the criminal liability theories it has now laid out in its summary, the new (executive summary) document does an extraordinary job of pulling together the evidentiary materials the Committee assembled. The Committee’s presentation goes far beyond a call for heads to roll, and amounts to a detailed prosecution memo that the DOJ will have to reckon with.”

Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, a frequent guest on MSNBC, told The Guardian, “It is difficult to imagine that the DOJ could look at this body of facts and reach a different conclusion. Although the Committee’s referral to the Justice Department is not binding in any way, and the DOJ will make its own independent assessment of whether charges are appropriate, the most important parts of the report are the facts it documents.”

Former federal prosecutor Michael Moore also believes that the January 6 Committee gave DOJ a wealth of valuable material to go on if it decides to move forward with a prosecution against Trump.

Moore told The Guardian, “The Committee report gives the special counsel not only the benefit of knowing what certain witnesses will say, it also lets him know what other witnesses won’t say. That type of intel gives him the ability to put together a stronger case with fewer surprises. More information is never a bad thing to a good lawyer.”

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