As the year draws to a close, so does the House January 6 committee’s investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The committee will hold a final hearing on Monday, December 19, when its final report will also be released. The chair of the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), told reporters that all nine members of the committee will speak at the final hearing, though it is expected to be shorter than previous hearings.
The big action item at the hearing is expected to be the issuance of criminal referrals to the Justice Department for criminal conduct, based on what the committee has found during its investigation. It will be the committee, in effect, passing the baton to the Justice Department to do what it will with its information and its recommendations. In particular, it will be up to Jack Smith, the career prosecutor appointed in November to be special counsel for the federal government’s investigations of Trump. Smith recently issued subpoenas to government officials in all seven states that were targeted by Trump allies in an effort to overturn the election, as his far less public investigation has been moving forward.
The criminal referrals are still a significant capstone to the committee’s work, even if they are simply advisory. Here’s what to know about them.
A criminal referral is really just a recommendation from the committee...
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