The January 6 Committee announced Monday that it would urge the Justice Department to prosecute former President Donald Trump, among others, over the Capitol riot that took place that day. The 45th president took the news well, however.
In a statement posted to his Truth Social account, the former president said the criminal referrals will only make him “stronger.”
“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” he wrote. “Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home… The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, the DBI, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win and that this whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party.”
He continued: “The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax # 2. I WON convincingly. Double Jeopardy anyone!”
The four criminal referrals are for obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting or assisting an insurrection.
The Department of Justice will be interested in seeing the evidence collected by the committee, but is unlikely to be swayed by the referrals, former DOJ officials have argued.
“I’m sure the Attorney General will welcome any new evidence the committee sends over, but the authority to indict rests with the executive branch, not Congress,” University of Baltimore Law School Dean Ronald Weich, a former DOJ liaison to Congress, told Politico. “The decision of whether to bring criminal charges is solely within the purview of the Justice Department. I expect DOJ to respond courteously to the committee, but the referral will not change the outcome.”