Capitol riot panel report makes case to try Trump
STORY: The U.S. House committee investigating the deadly events of January 6th at the Capitol has released its final report.
And it lays out the case that former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for inciting the riot.
The Democrat-led panel also made public transcripts of a number of its interviews and testimonies late on Thursday (December 22), running to some 800 pages.
On Monday (December 19), the committee asked federal prosecutors to charge the Republican former president with four crimes, including obstruction and insurrection, for what they said were efforts to overturn results of the November 2020 election, sparking the attack on the seat of government.
It was the first time in history that Congress referred a former president for criminal prosecution, though it does not compel federal prosecutors to act.
Trump called the report "highly partisan" and a "witch hunt" in comments posted on his Truth Social network.
Saying it failed to study what he called "election fraud" as the reason behind the events.
He announced in November that he would run for president again.
On the morning of January 6, Trump gave a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House and publicly chastized his vice president, Mike Pence, for not going along with his plan to reject ballots cast for Joe Biden.
He waited hours to make a public statement as thousands of his supporters raged through the Capitol, assaulting police and threatening to hang Pence.
Pence and lawmakers were certifying the 2020 election results when the Capitol was attacked, following weeks of false claims by Trump that he had won.
Five people, including a police officer, died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.
The House report is based on nearly 1,200 interviews over 18 months and hundreds of thousands of documents, as well as the rulings of more than 60 federal and state courts.
One of the transcripts released on Wednesday and Thursday showed a former lawyer for ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson telling her to "downplay" her knowledge of events leading to the Capitol riot, telling her "the less you remember, the better."
