CNN –
The House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6, 2021, is considering asking the Justice Department to file multiple charges against former President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Charges being considered include obstruction of official proceedings and conspiracy to defraud the federal government. The recommendations match allegations the select committee made against Trump and his campaign lawyer John Eastman in an earlier court proceeding seeking Eastman’s emails.
A judge had agreed with the House, finding that he could access Eastman’s emails about his 2020 campaign work for Trump because the pair likely planned to defraud the US and engage in a conspiracy to obstruct Congress, according to this judicial procedure.
The committee’s final report could include additional proposed charges against Trump, the source said. It will provide the rationale for its investigation to recommend the charges.
Politico was the first to report on the committee’s consideration of the charges.
The impact the House referrals could have is unclear because the Justice Department’s special counsel investigation is already examining Trump in its extensive Jan. 6 probe.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday that the panel “has been very careful in crafting these recommendations and tying them to the facts that we’ve uncovered.”
“We’ve spent a lot of time not just on what the sections of the code are and the substantive recommendation, but on the facts, and I think it’s very important when we talk about what we’re going to do and we’re going to have a vote on that, that people understand the facts behind the conclusions we reach,” the California Democrat told “The Lead.”
The Justice Department has focused heavily on criminal statutes related to violence, obstruction of Congress, and in some cases limited to seditious conspiracy, when charging defendants in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol .
This story is breaking and will be updated.