During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press this Sunday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) laid out some of the next steps for the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, on which she serves as the vice chair. She said, for instance, that one question under consideration by the panel is whether criminal penalties should be made law covering the specific sorts of actions that Trump took around the time of the attack on the Capitol. She also pledged that “new information” would be included in public hearings that the committee has planned for the near future — it remains unclear at this point which specific individuals might serve as witnesses for those hearings, but it is clear that investigators have already accumulated a lot of information. They’ve already heard from hundreds and hundreds of people, and they’ve successfully obtained key records, like docs from Trump’s administration. Cheney explained it as follows:
‘I think certainly our first priority is to make recommendations, and we’re looking at things like, do we need additional, enhanced criminal penalties for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump when he refused to tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol? So there will be legislative recommendations, and there certainly will be new information. And I can tell you, I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway.’
Check out Cheney’s remarks below:
WATCH: @RepLizCheney promises Jan. 6 committee will reveal "new information."
"I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less … worried about the gravity of the situation & the actions that Pres. Trump took." pic.twitter.com/WxgUcL8WFG
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 20, 2022
The committee already formally outlined that it believes Trump to potentially be guilty of crimes including obstruction of an official proceeding, although any criminal referrals that it produces would not be binding on the Justice Department — despite the fact that they’d likely come with substantial amounts of evidence behind them. One critical element of proving that Trump committed the criminal act would be showing that he had corrupt intent, and the fact that people around him promoted the truth of the integrity of the election, which Trump ignored, could help with showing such a thing. Relatedly, a federal judge concluded the argument could be made — whether or not it’s proven — that Trump entered into a sort of conspiracy with members of far-right groups including the Oath Keepers. As Judge Amit Mehta put it, “It is reasonable to infer that the President knew that these were militia groups and that they were prepared to partake in violence for him… The President thus plausibly would have known that a call for violence would be carried out by militia groups and other supporters.”
NEW: Jacob Fracker has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He'll testify next month against fellow police officer Thomas Robertson, who is facing multiple felony charges for his role in the #CapitolRiot. https://t.co/DxOSSV8cuB
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) March 18, 2022
