As the House committee investigating January 6 prepared for Monday proceedings at which panel members would reportedly be voting on referring Trump to the Justice Department for prosecution on at least three criminal charges, committee member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) continued speaking in support of holding Donald accountable.
“Ultimately, the Justice Department will have to determine whether there’s probable cause to charge the former president or others, and they’ll have to make the further determination before they bring such a charge that they think they can prevail at a trial, that they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” Schiff said in an early Monday TV interview. “Now, I hope they will apply those same standards that they would to an ordinary citizen to anyone, including the former president. That’s what the attorney general promised to do, and I think the country will hold the Justice Department to that standard.” In other words, Schiff remains insistent upon Trump not escaping the possibility of criminal charges, whether that’s because of his status as a former president and some perceived legal protection associated with that title or essentially anything else.
The Justice Department must apply the same standard of law to Donald Trump as they would to any citizen.
That's what Attorney General Garland promised to do.
And the country will hold the Department to it. pic.twitter.com/UcK1HnV4ZJ
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 19, 2022
The committee referring Trump for prosecution as it looked set to do wouldn’t force the Justice Department to act, but the former president nonetheless sounded furious. “Adam “Shifty” Schiff is all over T.V. talking about Criminal Referrals, just like he was on the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, which turned out to be the con of the century,” he complained on Sunday. “How much longer are Republicans, and American Patriots in general, going to allow this to happen. These are the Criminals who spied on my campaign, cheated on the Election, lied to FISA Court & Congress. They are SICK!” His accusations remain without merit. An isolated instance in which a now former FBI agent altered an email presented to a FISA judge in obtaining approval for continued surveillance of past Trump adviser Carter Page didn’t even necessarily constitute the critical factor in that FISA judge allowing the further surveillance, a judge later found.
The House Ways and Means Committee may soon also vote this week to release information from personal and business tax returns associated with Trump it recently obtained, so it’s not a great week to be the former president. Contrary to Trump, it would be legal for the committee to do so.
