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The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday said former President Donald Trump may have engaged in criminal conduct in his bid to overturn his election defeat.
“Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts,” the committee said in a court filing.
“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the filing said.
The document is one of the most detailed releases of findings yet from the committee, and indicates it may formally urge prosecutors to charge Trump with criminal wrongdoing.
The court document was filed in federal court in Los Angeles as part of the U.S. House of Representative Select Committee’s dispute with John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump on a plan to invalidate election results in key battleground states.
Eastman sued the committee in December, seeking to block a congressional subpoena requesting that he turn over thousands of emails.
The Select Committee’s members have said they will consider passing along evidence of criminal conduct by Trump to the U.S. Justice Department. Such a move, known as a criminal referral, would be largely symbolic but would increase political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to charge the former president.
Representatives of Eastman and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has repeatedly called the Select Committee’s inquiry a politically motivated investigation.
The court filing included emails obtained by the Select Committee from the day of the Jan. 6 attack, including one where a lawyer for then-Vice President Mike…
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Source : france24
