Why it matters: The commission has already ruled in court that former President Trump was involved in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden’s election victory.
However, President Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) Surprised reporters on Monday when he said the commission would not send criminal referrals to the Justice Department, saying “it’s not our job.” Vice President Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) And other members later clarified that the commission “has not reached a conclusion on possible referrals to criminals” and Raskin himself said that the decision would probably not be taken until the final report was published later. of the commission This year.
Leading the news: “I, speaking as a member, have no doubt that there are federal crimes that will appear in the final report,” Ruskin told Axios and others at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“I’m not trying to be hospitable here,” Ruskin said. “If there is evidence of crimes that we believe are related to our investigation, we will publish it. But there is no separate procedure for referring criminal cases to the Ministry of Justice.”
Between the lines: Ruskin said there is less disagreement or “division” among committee members than public confusion about what a criminal referral actually entails.
He explained that the commission has made formal criminal references to people being held in “contempt of Congress” for defying calls such as former Trump officials Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Mark Mendous and Dan Scavino. “There is a special federal statute that provides for criminal referrals to Congress for reports of contempt for individuals violating our summonses. There is no general federal law that provides for ‘criminal referrals’ to the Department of Justice by Congress,” he said. “We are doing this in relation to criminal contempt, but there is no generalized statute for Congress.”
The big picture: Ruskin also shed light on how the commission is considering its final report, which is expected to set out the detailed case against Trump and his team – as well as recommendations to prevent a January 6 press incident. again.
“For one thing, I do not want to offend the intelligence of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice by uttering a whole criminal charge against them,” Ruskin said. “They know how to do their job and they have access to information we probably do not have access to.” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that he and federal prosecutors investigating Jan. 6 will be attending all of the commission’s hearings.
Noting that there is “a bit of confusion” about what the final report will look like, Ruskin said it would not look like the report issued by former Attorney General Robert Mueller after his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“We are not doing that. We are reporting to the American people on what happened, why it happened and how we should protect ourselves in the future,” he said.
What we noticed: Ruskin walked into the halls of Congress carrying a book entitled “How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Democracy.”
Ruskin called it “a terrible book about the Catiline conspiracy” – an attempt to overthrow the elected leader of the Roman Republic in 63 BC, originally recorded by the historian Salust. “I get ideas from where I can,” Ruskin joked.
Photo: Alayna Treene / Axios
