January 6 committee says former President Donald Trump involved in “criminal conspiracy”

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives’ Capitol Committee Investigation Committee said Wednesday night that its evidence shows that former President Donald Trump and his associates were involved in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from approving the presidential election, spread false lies on government officials in order to undo the results.

The committee said in a statement in response to a lawsuit by Trump adviser John Eastman. Eastman, a lawyer who consulted with Trump when he tried to cancel the election, is trying to hide documents from the committee when he investigates the January 6, 2021 uprising. The committee argued that there was a legal exception that allowed disclosure of reports regarding current or future crimes.

“The selection committee also has a good faith basis for concluding that the president and members of his campaign were involved in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee said in a statement filed in U.S. District Court in Central California. .

The 221-page document is the committee’s most formal effort to link the former president to a federal crime, although the actual nature of the document is unclear, as lawmakers have no right to make charges on their own and can only make a referral. to the Ministry of Justice. The department is investigating last year’s riots, but shows no indication that it is considering bringing charges against Trump.

The report, filed Wednesday, was aimed at the committee at refuting the attorney’s and client’s claims on Eastman’s privileges to hide records from Congressional investigators.

“The elected committee is not conducting a criminal investigation,” Mississippi Democratic Party chairwoman Benny Thompson said in a statement. “But, as the judge noted at the previous hearing, Dr. Eastman’s claims to the privilege raise the question of whether the fraud exception with the privileges of a lawyer and a client applies in this situation.”

The statement also details the committee’s interviews with several of Trump’s top aides and even with former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Mark Short.

The committee also said it found evidence that Trump was trying to obstruct a formal hearing – in this case evidence of the results – in an attempt to strengthen Pence to delay consideration so that there was extra time to “manipulate” the results.

“Evidence confirms the conclusion that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he did not garner enough legitimate votes in the state election to be declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, but the president nonetheless tried to use the vice president to manipulate the results to his advantage, ”the statement said.