Will the Department of Justice (DOJ) criminally investigate Donald Trump? Four members of the House January 6 Select Committee came out full force on Sunday talk shows. They urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to do just that in the strongest language possible.
Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with co-host Jake Tapper Sunday and said:
‘[T]here’s no question that we have seen very serious misconduct and certainly (Trump’s) supreme dereliction of duty. I think that Donald Trump — the violation of his oath of office, the violation of the Constitution that he engaged in — is the most serious misconduct of any president in the history of our nation.’
The finale of the eight summer sessions shown on primetime Thursday explained what Trump had been doing for each of the 187 minutes between the end of his rally and when he finally told his people to leave. And they were damning.
Cheney said “there’s no doubt in my mind” about how unfit Donald Trump was:
‘There’s no doubt in my mind that the president of the United States is unfit for further office. Any man who would conduct themselves — or woman — who would conduct themselves the way that he did in attempting to overturn an election and stay in power must never again be anywhere close to the Oval Office.’
The only other Republican on the committee is Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). He appeared on ABC’s This Week with co-host Jonathan Karl. He also urged the AG to go after the ex-president, noting that what Trump did was “what you see in failed democracies:”
‘But there is a massive difference between “I’m going to prosecute the last administration for political vengeance” and not prosecuting an administration that literally attempted a failed coup.’
Kinzinger then gave AG Garland the bottom line “I don’t think a democracy can survive that:”
‘And I don’t think a democracy can survive that. So, I certainly hope they’re moving forward. I certainly think there’s evidence of crimes. And I think it goes all the way up to Donald Trump.’
Earlier the Illinois representative said that the committee had “proven different components of a criminal case” against Trump.
Representative Elaine Luria (D-VA) appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd Sunday. She said that the AG had been monitoring the hearings very closely and had “plenty” for a criminal investigation:
‘There have been cases of criminal defendants who have been charged and found guilty for events on January 6th, and they have actually quoted testimony from the January 6th witnesses and hearings.’
Then, she addressed AG Merrick directly:
‘If he’s watching today, I’d tell him he doesn’t need to wait on us because I think he has plenty to keep moving forward.’
Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) told CBS’s Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan this Sunday that the hearings have offered proof Trump “brought a mob to the Capitol:”
‘[W]hen all else failed, when all these other lines of effort to overturn the election failed, he made the decision to bring a mob to the Capitol. When he learned they were armed, his response was, ‘then take the magnetometers down.’
Not only did Trump know the mob was armed, he watched the police “being beaten and gouged and prayed with chemicals,” the “most supreme dereliction of duty ever:”
‘He wanted to march with that mob, that armed and dangerous mob, to the Capitol. When he was refused and brought to the safety of the cafeteria or the dining room of the White House, he wouldn’t lift a finger as he watched on TV, police officers being beaten and gouged and sprayed with chemicals in, you know, the most supreme dereliction of duty ever.’
Following the hearing, Donald Trump called Cheney a “sanctimonious loser” and he responded on Truth Social:
‘I had an election Rigged and Stolen from me, and our Country. The USA is going to Hell. Am I supposed to be happy?’
Trump also called out Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) for disagreeing that Arizona had been rigged, calling him a “RINO coward.”
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
