The January 6 Committee’s Final Act: Pointless Criminal Referrals of Trump

If anything, the referrals could undermine the DOJ’s building of a successful prosecution.

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The House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting to vote on criminal referrals against Donald Trump in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., December 19, 2022.

Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via Reuters

There is a danger in repeating the same script ad nauseam, as the House January 6 committee has done in its not one but two final performances.

Recall that the last one, in October, featured the dramatic proclamation that the committee was issuing a subpoena for Donald Trump’s testimony . . . under circumstances where it knew it would never get such testimony. Monday’s theater — apparently the finale, with Republicans poised to take control of the House and shutter the production — featured the dramatic proclamation that the committee is referring the former president to the Justice Department for prosecution . . . under circumstances where it knows such referrals are nonbinding and generally ignored by the Justice Department, except to the extent that they may be counterproductive to the building of a successful prosecution.

Andrew C. McCarthy

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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