The decision of the House Jan. 6 committee to recommend that the Justice Department pursue potential criminal charges against Donald J. Trump is not binding on the department, which in any case is already investigating “whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election” under the leadership of a special counsel.
Still, the panel’s recommendation Monday that the department pursue four potential charges against Trump — including inciting, aiding or giving aid and comfort to an insurrection — is a powerful statement. Equally important, it is based on a voluminous and damning record amassed in hearings at which some of the most damaging witnesses were Trump’s own appointees.
For anyone not blinded by partisanship or in thrall to the cult of Trump, the facts assembled by the panel, and contained in an executive summary of its report released on Monday, are shocking and shameful. They fully justify the dramatic step of a criminal referral of a former president.
