Jan. 6 committee report details the scope of Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the election - NBC News

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee connected Thursday unveiled its ceremonial report, the last merchandise of its historical 18-month probe into the deadly onslaught connected the Capitol and erstwhile President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“[A]fter astir a twelvemonth and a fractional of investigation, I americium frightened astir the peril our ideology faced. Specifically, I deliberation astir what that mob was determination to do: to artifact the peaceful transportation of powerfulness from 1 president to different based connected a prevarication that the predetermination was rigged and tainted with wide fraud,” Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote successful the foreword of the report. 

“The rioters were wrong the halls of Congress due to the fact that the caput of the enforcement subdivision of our government, the then-President of the United States, told them to attack,” Thompson continued. “Donald Trump summoned that mob to Washington, DC. Afterward, helium sent them to the Capitol to effort to forestall my colleagues and maine from doing our Constitutional work to certify the election."

"They enactment our precise ideology to the test,” helium added.

The committee released the 845-page report days aft a last committee gathering astatine which its 9 members — 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans — voted to urge that the Justice Department prosecute transgression charges against Trump arsenic helium makes different bid for the White House successful 2024.

It was the archetypal clip successful past that a legislature committee had made transgression referrals for a U.S. president. The Jan. 6 panel, led by Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., believes determination is capable grounds for the Justice Department to prosecute Trump connected 4 circumstantial charges, including obstruction of an authoritative proceeding — Congress’ certification of electoral votes — and inciting oregon assisting others successful an insurrection.

Among the committee’s astir twelve recommendations listed astatine the extremity of the report: Urging Congress to make a mode to measure whether Trump and others who took portion successful the 2020 predetermination crippled should beryllium banned from holding aboriginal office.  

Consistent with the committee’s bid of summertime hearings and its executive summary, the afloat study — divided into 8 chapters — mostly lays blasted for the Jan. 6 onslaught astatine the feet of the 45th president and downplays information and quality failures.

Chapter 1 is titled, "THE BIG LIE," a motion to Trump's wide effort to delegitimize the 2020 predetermination and falsely assertion it was stolen, portion Chapter 2, titled "I JUST WANT TO FIND 11,780 VOTES," focuses connected Trump's effort to unit authorities and predetermination officials successful Georgia and different places to overturn the predetermination results.

A video of erstwhile President Donald Trump is shown astatine the House Jan. 6 committee's last gathering Monday. J. Scott Applewhite / AP file

Witnesses, astir each of them Republicans, testified that Trump and his interior ellipse had furiously worked to sow uncertainty astir Joe Biden’s morganatic predetermination victory; launched a multi-pronged run to pressure authorities officials, elder members of the Justice Department and then-Vice President Mike Pence to assistance overturn the election; directed a mob of thousands of his supporters to march connected the Capitol to disrupt lawmakers’ counting of the electoral votes that would certify the results of the election; and refused to telephone disconnected his supporters arsenic they brutally assaulted constabulary officers and stormed the Capitol.

"Among the astir shameful of this committee’s findings was that President Trump sat successful the eating country disconnected the Oval Office watching the convulsive riot astatine the Capitol connected television. ... No antheral who would behave that mode astatine that infinitesimal successful clip tin ever service successful immoderate presumption of authorization successful our federation again," Cheney said astatine Monday's meeting, a enactment she repeated successful her ain foreword. "He is unfit for immoderate office."

Trump responded overnight with a bid of inflammatory posts to his Truth Social network, repeating galore of the aforesaid mendacious claims astir a stolen predetermination and attacking the committee, the FBI and others.

"The Government of the United States changed our Election Result, and it conscionable doesn’t get immoderate worse than that," helium wrote Friday, falsely claiming that helium was the existent victor of the 2020 election. "Just look astatine the harm that’s been done to our Country, and the World, successful the past 2 years — It’s incalculable. TRUMP WON!!!"

The committee’s study alleges that Trump and his interior ellipse conducted astatine slightest 200 nationalist oregon backstage acts of “outreach, pressure, oregon condemnation” targeting authorities and section predetermination officials, arsenic good arsenic authorities legislators, to overturn the results betwixt Trump’s nonaccomplishment successful November and Jan. 6.

There were 68 meetings, telephone calls oregon texts aimed astatine authorities oregon section officials; 18 nationalist remarks targeting them; and 125 societal media posts, the committee says.

The study besides revealed much details astir the fake elector plan, which the committee alleges Trump embraced erstwhile it became wide that authorities officials successful Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and different cardinal battlegrounds would not overturn the results successful their states and regenerate Biden electors with Trump electors.

While the committee referred blimpish lawyer John Eastman to the Justice Department connected Monday for his relation successful the strategy to unit Pence to cull states’ electoral votes connected Jan. 6, the study identifies Trump-allied lawyer Kenneth Chesebro arsenic cardinal to conceptualizing the plot.

Some of the committee's conclusions look successful the report's appendices. For example, erstwhile reporting and Jan. 6 hearings had revealed that Pentagon bureaucrats, including Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt and Gen. Charles Flynn, had delayed sending National Guard troops arsenic constabulary were overwhelmed by the rioters.  

But the committee recovered that determination was nary deliberate effort to stall the troops: “While the hold seems unnecessary and unacceptable, it was the byproduct of subject processes, organization caution, and a revised deployment support process," the committee writes successful Appendix 2.

"We person nary grounds that the hold was intentional.”

As it was tasked to do, the committee besides issued a fig of recommendations to some Congress and national agencies. The sheet urged legislature committees to see creating a “formal mechanism” to find whether to barroom Trump and others identified successful the study from holding aboriginal national oregon authorities bureau nether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which targets those who person "engaged successful insurrection oregon rebellion against the same, oregon fixed assistance oregon comfortableness to the enemies thereof."

The Jan. 6 committee besides called for reforms to the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to marque it wide that the vice president does not person the authorization to unilaterally cull electoral votes, an update that is already successful the works. Congress volition walk specified a proposal this week arsenic portion of its omnibus spending package.

In addition, the Jan. 6 committee recommended that national agencies undertake a “whole of authorities strategy” to basal retired and combat convulsive extremism, including achromatic nationalists. And it urged instrumentality enforcement to designate aboriginal certifications of statesmanlike elections arsenic a “national peculiar information event.” That would necessitate greater planning, coordination and information for aboriginal Jan. 6 certification events astatine the Capitol.

"Driven by our investigative findings, these recommendations volition assistance fortify the guardrails of our democracy," Thompson wrote.

The report marks the culmination of a sweeping legislature probe that included 11 nationalist hearings, much than 100 subpoenas, much than 1,200 witnesser interviews and the postulation of hundreds of thousands of substance messages, emails and different documents.

The committee has already begun releasing dozens of transcripts from witnesses who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, including Trump associates Eastman, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and Jeffrey Clark.

On Thursday, the Jan. 6 sheet released transcripts of the grounds of erstwhile White House adjutant Cassidy Hutchinson, who had testified that Trump was alert the mob was equipped erstwhile helium sent it to the Capitol and that helium had tried to articulation his supporters there.

In the coming days, the committee besides plans to merchandise different transcripts from interviews and depositions, arsenic good arsenic video and different documents and records.

Because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., created it arsenic a "select" committee, the sheet expires astatine the extremity of the year. Republicans, who volition instrumentality power of the House successful January, person nary plans to renew it.

At her last quality league arsenic talker Thursday, Pelosi praised Thompson, Cheney and the different Jan. 6 members for their "persistent, patriotic leadership."

"The 117th Congress began with a convulsive battle connected our democracy, and present we perceive its conclusions," she said. "We person a captious roadworthy representation ensuring justness volition beryllium done ... and that this won’t hap again."