Jan. 6 committee set to release final report on Capitol assault

Washington — The House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol is set to release its final report on Wednesday, capping a nearly 18-month investigation that resulted in the historic recommendation that former President Donald Trump be criminally prosecuted for his conduct surrounding the insurrection.

The release of the report, which the panel unanimously voted to adopt during a meeting Monday, follows the publication of introductory materials earlier this week, which included the committee’s criminal referrals to the Justice Department for possible prosecution and 17 key findings from its investigation.

The panel recommended the Justice Department pursue at least four criminal charges against former President Donald Trump related to his alleged efforts to thwart the transfer of presidential power: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and incitement, rebellion or insurrection.

During the course of its probe, the select committee held 10 public hearings, conducted interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses and collected more than 1 million pages of material. It issued subpoenas to Trump and some of his closest allies, though ultimately did not speak with the former president or former Vice President Mike Pence.

Transcripts of the interviews conducted by committee investigators are also expected to be made public in the coming days.

Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California and a member of the committee, told “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday that the decision to refer Trump for possible criminal charges was a “somber decision to make, and not one we made lightly.”

“We believe that with respect to inciting an insurrection and conspiracy to defraud and obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to lie … that Donald Trump committed all of these offenses,” Schiff said. “And as the Congress itself was the victim of some of them, our democracy, all of them, that we had an obligation to report what we knew to the Justice Department.”

Trump, who has launched a 2024 presidential bid, has maintained he did nothing wrong on Jan. 6, and has repeatedly called the committee’s investigation a “witch hunt.” He called the criminal referrals “Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th” in response to the release of the introductory materials earlier this week.