Representative Jamie Ruskin (D-Md.), A member of the House of Representatives committee on January 6 and an expert in constitutional law, said on Tuesday that there had been “semantic confusion from the start” over the commission’s powers to issue crimes.
Why it matters: The commission has already stated in court documents that former President Trump was involved in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden’s election victory.
- But President Benny Thompson (D-Miss.) Surprised reporters Monday by announcing that the commission would not send crimes to the Department of Justice, saying it was “not our business”.
- Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) And other members later clarified that the commission had “not issued a report on potential crimes” and Ruskin himself said the decision was unlikely to be taken until the commission’s final report came out later this year.
Leading the news, “I, speaking as a member, have no doubt that there are” federal crimes that will be included in the final report, Ruskin told Axios and others on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
- “I’m not trying to be modest here,” Ruskin said. “If there is evidence of crimes that we believe are relevant to our investigation, we will uncover them. But there is no separate process for referral to the Ministry of Justice. “
Between the lines: Ruskin said there was less disagreement or “division” between committee members than public confusion about what the crime actually involved.
- He explained that the commission had committed official crimes against people held in “disrespect to Congress” for rejecting subpoenas, such as former Trump officials Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino.
- “There is a specific federal law that provides for a congressional crime of citing disrespect for people who violate our subpoenas. “There is no common federal law that provides for a ‘criminal referral’ to Congressional Justice Department,” Ruskin said.
- “We are doing this with regard to criminal disrespect, but there is no common statute for Congress to develop.
Background: Ruskin also shed light on how the commission is thinking about its final report, which is expected to set out a detailed case against Trump and his team – as well as recommendations to prevent a January 6 incident. again.
- “For example, I do not want to offend the intelligence of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice by bringing them a whole criminal indictment,” Ruskin said. “They know how to do their job and they have access to information that we probably don’t have access to.”
- Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that he and federal prosecutors investigating Jan. 6 will monitor all of the commission’s hearings.
Noting that there was “a bit of confusion” about what the final report would look like, Ruskin said it would not resemble the report issued by former Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller following his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
- “We are not doing this. We are reporting to the American people what happened, why it happened and how we need to defend ourselves in the future,” he said.
What we noticed: Ruskin was walking through the halls of Congress carrying a book entitled How to Stop the Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving the Republic.
- Ruskin called it “a great book about the Catiline conspiracy” – an attempt to overthrow the elected leader of the Roman Republic in 63 BC, originally described by historian Salustius.
- “I’m breaking ideas where I can,” Ruskin joked.
Photo: Alayna Treene / Axios
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