After the House committee investigating the Capitol riot’s Thursday hearing, panel member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) rather unequivocally stated he believed Donald Trump could be criminally charged for his role in matters focused on by the committee.
“I think the president certainly has criminal exposure,” Kinzinger said, per CNN’s Manu Raju. “I’m not a prosecutor, I’m not DOJ. But I certainly think if you look at what we presented tonight, and in all these hearings, that cannot be acceptable for the president of the United States… Like the worst thing we can do is put out something that says, ‘a president is above the law and can do this again,’ because I guarantee you it will happen again if we say that.”
Kinzinger isn’t alone among members of the riot panel pushing for the Justice Department to target Trump. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has been essentially relentless in his push; recently, he expressed serious concerns that the riot panel and even the team of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seem ahead of the Justice Department on key matters. Vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) conspicuously left the option open of referring Trump for prosecution.
Kinzinger himself helped lead the committee’s Thursday night hearing, where committee members focused in large part on actions Trump took — and didn’t take — as the riot developed. According to member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), investigators “confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, Vice President Mike Pence’s staff, and D.C. government officials: None of them — not one — heard from President Trump that day.” The committee also aired additional testimony from former figures around Trump, such as then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Cipollone indicated he was unaware of the then-president placing a single call amid the riot to officials such as the Secretary of Defense and Attorney General, who could’ve helped stop it.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley also spoke to Trump’s lack of action in video-taped testimony aired Thursday. “You know, you’re the commander-in-chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America and there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?” Milley remarked. He also wasn’t contacted by Trump as the riot took place. At another point Thursday, the Jan. 6 panel revealed video outtakes from a message Trump recorded the day after the Capitol chaos. “I don’t want to say the election is over,” Trump says in the footage. In the time since, it’s become only increasingly clear Trump essentially wasn’t behind the attempt to push back on what happened at the Capitol. He’s repeatedly sought to essentially justify it, offering excuses such as imaginary fraud for why it happened — something he also did on the day of the violence itself, when he said on Twitter “these are the things and events that happen” when an election is stolen. The number of messages he’s posted of that sort make it pretty clear what he actually thinks about the matter.
