The committee's referrals to the Justice Department carry no legal weight since federal prosecutors are already conducting their own investigation and are the sole deciders of whether to pursue charges against Trump.
The House January 6 Committee voted on Dec. 19, 2022 to send referrals to the Justice Department recommending former President Donald Trump be criminally prosecuted.The House Jan. 6 committee on Monday urged the Justice Department to consider prosecuting Donald Trump for four different crimes — actions that touch not only the former president’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election but also his behavior during last year's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The committee said it amassed substantial evidence that Trump sought to obstruct that process, including by summoning supporters to Washington on the day Congress was meeting and through a relentless but ultimately unsuccessful pressure campaign aimed at getting Vice President Mike Pence to prevent the votes from being certified. Testimony to the committee also showed how Trump hectored local officials to affect the outcomes of their states' vote in his favor.
The committee says Trump did exactly that by trying to obstruct the certification of the election despite being told by aides that there was no fraud that could have affected the outcome, by angrily beseeching Pence to delay that certification even though he was told there was no legal basis for him to do so, and by working with others, both inside of government and out, on a "multi-part plan" to stay in power.
Clark cited his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in refusing to answer the committee's questions.Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida.