(RoyalPatriot.com )- The House’s select January 6 committee announced earlier this week it was making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice as a result of its investigation.
Among those referred to the DOJ was former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
After the announcement was made, Trump responded very succinctly on his own social media platform, Truth Social. He posted:
“But Liz Cheney lost by a record 40 points!”
Trump was referencing the fact that Cheney, the soon-to-be former Republican representative from Wyoming, lost in her re-election bid over the summer during her state’s GOP primary.
She lost in that race to Harriet Hageman, who was backed by Trump in that race. She received 66.3% of the total vote during the primary, while Cheney only received 28.9%. Hageman ultimately won the general election and is now the Representative-elect from Wyoming.
That marked nearly a 40-point loss for Cheney, who was once very popular among the GOP but has since fallen from grace, especially after she started becoming so outspoken against Trump.
While most of the January 6 panel was made up of Democrats, Cheney was one of two Republicans to serve on it, and she was its vice chair. Cheney has been a vocal opponent of Trump’s for a while now, and was one of the Republican members of the House who voted for his impeachment in 2020.
The House’s January 6 committee wrapped up its work this week when it issued the final report of its findings. It will certainly be completely dissolved once the new Congress takes over in early January, as Republicans now control the lower chamber of Congress.
Among the criminal charges it recommended against Trump were conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of Congress and inciting an insurrection.
The final report asserted that the former president was the “central cause” of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
The DOJ is not in any way required to do anything with the criminal referrals the House committee has made. In many ways, they will only be symbolic in nature because of that, and because of the fact that the DOJ is already conducting criminal investigations of its own into the actions of that day.
That being said, the referrals are notable for a number of reasons. For one, Trump becomes the first president in U.S. history to be referred for criminal prosecution to the DOJ.
On Monday, in what will likely be the last public meeting that the House panel will hold, Cheney criticized Trump for the actions he took leading up to, during and after the Capitol riot.
During those comments, Cheney said that Trump is “unfit for any office.” Trump has already announced that he will be running for president again in 2024, though he would be barred from doing so if he were to be charged and convicted of these federal crimes.
It’s very unlikely that it would happen before that time, though.
