The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the assault on the Capitol met publicly for the last time on Monday 19 December and issued its final conclusions: “formally accuses Donald Trump of four felonies in his attempt to prevent the transfer of power to Joe Biden”, of January 6, 2021, reports the political information site Politic. A 154-page first file, to be supplemented by a much larger comprehensive report on Wednesday, supports these allegations.
The four charges held in what the US TV channel CNBC eligible for “historical reference” are: call for insurrection, conspiracy against the American state, obstruction of an official procedure (certifying a presidential election) and false declarations to the national archives.
“These people don’t understand that when they attack me, the freedom-loving ones rally around me. All of this strengthens me. What does not kill me makes me stronger”. a very Nietzschean Donald Trump replied on his social network Truth Social, the news site reports Axios.
Donald Trump at the center of an ‘illegal scheme’
Voted unanimously by the nine committee members (seven Democrats and two Republicans), this “postponement“it is the culmination of eighteen months of investigations, during which elected officials interviewed a thousand witnesses, examined mountains of documents and held nine public hearings to prove that Donald Trump played a role”central” in the design of the “illegal scheme to overturn the election result”, in the words of Jamie Raskin, one of the panel members. The Left Magazine Mother Jones details this pattern and the accumulated evidence, believing the report”devastating” for the defendant.
MP Raskin adds that the “conspirator“not”acted alone”, as the conservative newspaper admits New York Post – owned by Rupert Murdoch but now tired of Trump. Therefore, the commission recommended legal action against John Eastman, the former president’s attorney and mastermind of the plan to defeat voter certification on January 6, 2021.
Several Republican elected officials are also referred to the House Ethics Committee, accused of having “he challenged their subpoenas”, which is to say that they refused to testify, explains the ultra-conservative channel Fox News – which also belongs to Murdoch but shows indulgence with the always very influential Trump, dedicating only a small article at the bottom of his to the event first page. Among the elected officials stranded are: Kevin McCarthy (who plans to become Speaker of the House in January), Scott Perry (who chairs the Freedom Caucusa group of elected officials close to Trump) and Jim Jordan (the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee).
The latter immediately denounced a “partisan and political coup, hatched by a select committee having knowingly modified the evidence.“But he doesn’t have much to worry about. Even if the ethics committee takes the time to meet before the end of this legislature in three weeks, it seems”unlikely” which punishes these elected officials. Because as the information site reminds us The hillits members areequally divided between the two sides”.
“The time has come for justice”
Is it different for Donald Trump? What weighs against you the referral to the Commission? In fact, this has no prescriptive value. “The Justice Department does not have to act on this”, specifies the Washington Post. An independent and experienced prosecutor, Jack Smith, has already been appointed to lead the investigation, and it is according to his recommendations that Merrick Garland will be able to “choose to indict Trump and his allies […], regardless of any referral to Congress”, insists the newspaper.
The opinion of Congress is therefore nothing more than a strong but symbolic political gesture. From “Theater”, judges the columnist justice del New York Postwho thinks it might as well”help Trump build his defense”. Machine “even if the prosecutors meticulously build a file with reliable evidence and testimony, the postponement (of today) allows the defendant to argue that the accusation is politically motivated“, he argues.
An opinion that does not share David Frum, political columnist of the monthly The Atlantic. Recalling that the former president has threatened to cause riots if indicted, and although he believes these threats are only “vain boasts”, Frum – an anti-Trumpist Republican – argues that they “make the implementation of the recommendations even more necessary”. “For six years, the task of enforcing the rule of law against Donald Trump changed hands”, argues the columnist. “From now on, there is no one else to pass it on to […]. The time has come for justice.”
The reporter of New York Times Maggie Haberman has meanwhile questioned several Republican personalities about the future of their (former) leader, and concludes that this future appears “complicated”. “It all looks like a reality show at the end of its course”said Florida Republican elected Carlos Curbelo. “And people, even his supporters, are kind of fed up with all of this.” But remember that it could also sound like “one of those movies where the protagonist is left for dead before getting up.“
