What to know about the final public meeting of the Jan. 6 committee:
- The committee voted to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department for former President Donald Trump, lawyer John Eastman and unspecified "others." Trump was referred under four criminal statutes: obstructing an official proceeding, making false statements, defrauding the U.S. and inciting an insurrection.
- The panel also referred four Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring its subpoenas; it did not name the members.
- The committee released a 154-page summary of its findings Monday. The full final report is expected to be made public this week.
- The committee, which was formed in July 2021, spent nearly 18 months investigating the U.S. Capitol attack, which temporarily stopped Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results, and the events surrounding it.
Summary highlight: The committee warns of need for accountability
In sweeping language, the committee’s executive summary warned that a failure to hold Trump and other election deniers accountable for their actions and statements since the 2020 election — including the former president’s recent call to terminate the Constitution — would threaten the “security and viability” of the republic itself.
“In the Committee’s judgment, based on all the evidence developed, President Trump believed then, and continues to believe now, that he is above the law, not bound by our Constitution and its explicit checks on Presidential authority,” the summary says.
“If President Trump and the associates who assisted him in an effort to overturn the lawful outcome of the 2020 election are not ultimately held accountable under the law, their behavior may become a precedent and invitation to danger for future elections," the committee continued. "A failure to hold them accountable now may ultimately lead to future unlawful efforts to overturn our elections, thereby threatening the security and viability of our Republic."
Summary highlight: Trump's awareness of security threats
Trump “knew enough to cancel” plans for a march to the Capitol — though he never did, the committee said in the executive summary of its final report.
“By the time President Trump was preparing to give his speech, he and his advisors knew enough to cancel the rally. And he certainly knew enough to cancel any plans for a march to the Capitol,” the committee wrote.
“According to testimony obtained by the Select Committee, Trump knew that elements of the crowd were armed, and had prohibited items, and that many thousands would not pass through the magnetometers for that reason. Testimony indicates that the President had received an earlier security briefing, and testimony indicates that the Secret Service mentioned the prohibited items again as they drove President Trump to the Ellipse,” the summary stated.
Eastman pushes back on committee's view of his pardon request
In a virtual news conference late Monday afternoon, conservative attorney John Eastman pushed back against the committee's characterization of his request for a presidential pardon.
The committee wrote in its executive summary that Eastman's request to be added to the “pardon list” after Jan. 6, 2021, revealed his “clear consciousness of guilt."
Eastman argued he'd asked to be put on the list in response to "weeks" of false attacks against him.
"I said, look, given that false story maybe I should be on the pardon list, just to avoid having to defend against that — what was clearly constitutionally protected speech," Eastman said, adding that it "never went anywhere."
The committee said Monday it would send a criminal referral for Eastman to the Justice Department, arguing that he was the architect of an unlawful scheme to pressure Pence to reject states’ electoral votes on Jan. 6 and have fake electors submitted to Congress instead.
Eastman also seemed to offer a preview of his defense to a potential criminal indictment, saying that whether or not he acted “corruptly” would be “front and center to the case.”
“To prove that there would have to be first evidence that there was no illegality or fraud in the election and that I knew that at the time,” Eastman said. “And neither of those things is true."
Summary highlight: Why Trump's campaign manager locked his office door
As Rudy Giuliani pushed forward with litigation to sow doubt on the election process, Trump campaign staffers began viewing Giuliani as “unhinged,” the executive summary of the committee’s report says.
Multiple law firms that had worked for the campaign quit after having refused to participate in his legal strategy, it continues.
Campaign manager Bill Stepien, who recalled growing “wary of the new team,” told the committee he had his assistant lock his door.
“And, sure enough, Mayor Giuliani tried to get in my office and ordered her to unlock the door, and she didn’t do that," he said. "She’s smart about that.”
Trump repeats disputed claim he ordered troops to be ready ahead of Jan. 6
While the committee was meeting, former President Donald Trump repeated his claim in a radio interview that ahead of Jan. 6 he ordered thousands of troops to be ready to respond in case of protests — an assertion the panel had refuted in the executive summary of its report.
Asked in an interview with conservative talk radio host Dan Bongino about the committee's actions Monday, Trump called the panel "a kangaroo court" and said its members had failed to mention his video statement hours after the riot began urging his supporters to go home. He added that the committee also didn't mention his claim that he ordered 10,000 troops to be prepared for protests days before the riot unfolded.
The committee, however, addressed that claim in its summary.
“Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. The select committee found no evidence of this." it said. "In fact, President Trump’s acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller directly refuted this when he testified under oath."
The summary then quoted Miller as telling committee staff members "there was no order from the president."
Asked for comment about the committee's criminal referrals, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung repeated a statement the campaign has used previously, calling the panel a "Kangaroo court" that "held show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history."
Rep. Biggs calls Ethics Committee referral a ‘political stunt’
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., responded to the committee's decision to refer him and three other Republicans to the Ethics Committee for defying its subpoenas, calling the referral “their final political stunt.”
Biggs accused the committee of defaming “my name and my character.”
“They only wanted the testimony to have the ability to edit and misconstrue our statements to further their own false narratives, as they did with so many other witnesses,” Biggs said.
Summary highlight: Trump allies took the Fifth on fraud claims
Trump lawyers and supporters — including Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Phil Waldron and Michael Flynn — were asked by the committee to provide proof supporting their claims that the election was stolen. In response, they invoked their Fifth Amendment right, the summary said. Those making the claims did not provide any evidence in subpoenaed documents, either, according to the committee.
“Not a single witness — nor any combination of witnesses — provided the select committee with evidence demonstrating that fraud occurred on a scale even remotely close to changing the outcome in any state.”
“In short, it was a big scam,” a footnote read.
Capitol Police chief says threats against lawmakers have increased
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testified before the Senate Rules Committee on Monday about changes at the agency since Jan. 6, 2021, and a massive increase in threats against lawmakers over the last few years.
Manger revealed that Capitol Police saw over 9,000 threats against members of Congress last year, and he specifically called out the attacks on Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Paul Pelosi.
“I can tell you that back in 2017, we had 1,000, maybe, somewhere around 1,000, and last year 9,000, and it has gone up steadily and profoundly over the last five or six years,” he told senators.
Manger also discussed the agency's “to-do list” since Jan. 6, from managing security risks to recruitment.
“Among the most significant challenges that we’re facing is the ever-changing threat landscape,” Manger said. “Hate, intolerance and violence are part of a disturbing trend.”
McConnell: ‘The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released a brief statement about the committee's final hearing Monday evening.
“The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day. Beyond that, I don’t have any immediate observations," McConnell said in a statement shared by his office.
John Eastman responds to DOJ referral
Conservative attorney John Eastman said Monday that the "American people have been ill-served by the January 6th committee and its members" after it unveiled plans to refer him to the Justice Department.
In a statement, he said the committee's move — a nonbinding recommendation that he be investigated and prosecuted — carries no more weight than if a regular person had done it.
"In fact, a 'referral' from the January 6th committee should carry a great deal less weight due to the absurdly partisan nature of the process that produced it," he said.
The committee says Eastman was the architect of an unlawful scheme to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject states’ electoral votes on Jan. 6 and have fake electors submitted to the Congress instead.
Eastman said the committee "had the resources and mandate to make important contributions in the area of Capitol Security, Electoral Count Act Reform and other areas of potential legislation."
But, he said: "Sadly, this opportunity has been squandered in favor of concocting a pretend 'criminal case' from pretend prosecutors designed to create political advantage for the Democratic Party and stigmatize disfavored political groups."
The House did pass an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act in September; the Senate hasn't passed it. Legislation that would reform the law is expected to be included in a coming massive government spending package Congress is expected to consider this week.