[Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail
and masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass. More than sufficient
evidence exists of Donald Trump assisting or aiding and comforting a
violent attack on the United States.]
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JAN. 6 COMMITTEE: FOUR GRAVE CRIMES OF DONALD TRUMP  
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Jamie Raskin
December 19, 2022
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_ Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and
masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass. More than sufficient
evidence exists of Donald Trump assisting or aiding and comforting a
violent attack on the United States. _

Rep. Jamie Raskin presenting the case for criminal referrals of
Donald Trump to the Department of Justice on Jan. 19, 2022, image:
screen shot

 

_THE FOLLOWING ARE THE REMARKS OF REP. JAMIE RASKIN TO THE JANUARY 19
HEARING OF THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON JANUARY 6, RECOMMENDING
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL REFERRALS OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, JOHN
EASTMAN AND OTHERS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. -- MODERATOR_

REP. JAMIE RASKIN: Thank you Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you for
your extraordinary leadership of this committee. Generations to come
will praise you and the vice chair for your unswerving devotion to the
rule of law.

Several months ago you tasked several members in a subcommittee with
bringing to the full committee recommendations about potential
referrals to the Department of Justice and other authorities evidence
of civil and criminal offenses that have come to our attention over
the course of our investigation. We are now prepared to share those
recommendations today. 

Mr. Chairman, let me begin with some relevant background
considerations to our criminal referrals. The dangerous assault on our
constitutional democracy that took place on January 6, 2021, consists
of hundreds of individual criminal offenses. Most such crimes are
already being prosecuted by the Department of Justice. We propose to
the committee advancing referrals where the gravity of the specific
offense, the severity of its actual harm and the centrality of the
offender to the overall design of the unlawful scheme to overthrow the
election compel us to speak. Ours is not a system of justice where
foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a
free pass. 

Mr. Chairman, as you know our committee had the opportunity last
spring to present much of our evidence to a federal judge, something
that distinguishes our investigation from any other congressional
investigation I can recall. In the context of resolving evidentiary
privilege issues of the crime fraud doctrine in the Eastman case, US
District Court Judge David Carter examined just a small subset of our
evidence to determine whether it showed the likely commission of a
federal offense. The judge concluded that both former President Donald
Trump and John Eastman likely violated two federal criminal statutes.
This is the starting point for our analysis today.

The first criminal statute we invoke for referral therefore is Title
18 Section 1512(c) which makes it unlawful for anyone to corruptly
obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding of the United
States government. We believe that the evidence described by my
colleagues today and assembled throughout our hearings warrants a
criminal referral of former President Donald J. Trump, John Eastman
and others for violations of this stature. 

The whole purpose and obvious effect of Trump’s scheme were to
obstruct, influence and impede this official proceeding – the
central moment for the lawful transfer of power in the United
States. 

Second, we believe that there is more than sufficient evidence to
refer former President Donald J. Trump, John Eastman and others for
violating Title 18 Section 371. This statute makes it a crime to
conspire to defraud the United States. In other words, to make an
agreement to impair, obstruct or defeat the lawful functions of the
United States government by deceitful or dishonest means. Former
President Trump did not engage in a plan to defraud the United States
acting alone. He entered into agreements, formal and informal, with
several other individuals who assisted him with his criminal
objectives. Our report describes in detail the actions of numerous
co-conspirators who agreed with and participated in Trump's plan to
impair, obstruct and defeat the certification of President Biden's
electoral victory. 

That said, this subcommittee does not attempt to determine all of the
potential participants in this conspiracy, as our understanding of the
role of many individuals may be incomplete even today because they
refused to answer our questions. We trust that the Department of
Justice will be able to form a far more complete picture through its
own investigation. 

Third, we make a referral based on Title 18 Section 1001 which makes
it unlawful to knowingly and willfully make materially false
statements to the federal government. The evidence clearly suggests
that President Trump conspired with others to submit slates of fake
electors to Congress and the National Archives. We believe that this
evidence we set forth in our report is more than sufficient for a
criminal referral of former President Donald J. Trump and others in
connection with this offense. As before, we don't try to determine all
of the participants in this conspiracy, many of whom refused to answer
our questions while under oath. We trust the Department of Justice
will be able to form a more complete picture through its own
investigation. 

The fourth and final statute we invoke for referral is Title 18,
Section 2383. The statute applies to anyone who incites, assists or
engages in insurrection against the United States of America and
anyone who gives aid or comfort to an insurrection. An insurrection is
a rebellion against the authority of the United States. It is a grave
federal offense anchored in the Constitution itself, which repeatedly
opposes insurrection and domestic violence and indeed uses
insurrection by office holders as automatic grounds for
disqualification from ever holding public office again at the federal
or state level. 

Anyone who incites others to engage in rebelling, assists them in
doing so or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in insurrection is
guilty of a federal crime. The committee believes that more than
sufficient evidence exists for a criminal referral of former President
Trump for assisting or aiding and comforting those at the Capitol who
engaged in a violent attack on the United States. The committee has
developed significant evidence that President Trump intended to
disrupt the peaceful transition of power under our Constitution. 

The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to
act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could
be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection
against the constitutional order. The complete factual basis for this
referral is set forth in detail throughout our report. 

These are not the only statutes that are potentially relevant to
President Trump’s conduct related to the 2020 election. Depending on
evidence developed by the Department of Justice, the president's
actions could certainly trigger other criminal violations. 

Nor are President Trump and his immediate team the only people
identified for referrals in our report. As part of our investigation,
we asked multiple members of Congress to speak with us about issues
critical to our understanding of this attack on the 2020 election and
our system of constitutional democracy. None agreed to provide that
essential information. As a result, we took the significant step of
issuing them subpoenas, based on the volume of information particular
members possessed about one or more parts of President Trump’s plans
to overturn the election. None of the subpoenaed members complied, and
we are now referring four members of Congress for appropriate sanction
by the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with lawful
subpoenas.

Mr. Chairman, we understand the gravity of each and every referral we
are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime
against democracy that we describe in our report. But we have gone
where the facts and the law lead us and inescapably they lead us here.
Accordingly Mr. Chairman and in light of these facts, I asked
unanimous consent that the chairman be directed to transmit to the
United States Department of Justice relevant select committee records
in furtherance of these criminal referrals.

COMMITTEE CHAIR BENNIE THOMPSON: Without objection, so ordered.

* January 6 committee
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* Jamie Raskin
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* Donald Trump
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* Insurrection in Washington
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