The House Jan. 6 committee will vote on its report and its referrals at 1 p.m. Dec. 19, according to its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., potentially revealing the targets, Politico reported.
The evidence gathered from the committee will be sent to the Justice Department on criminal referrals. Among the other potential referrals are ethics violations, legal bar discipline, and campaign finance violations, according to the report.
The referrals are a merely formality for the DOJ, which will be more interested in the precise evidence presented for its own investigations.
Congressional oversight is intended for legislative purposes and not supposed to conduct investigations for partisan reasons. Republicans and former President Donald Trump backers frequently note the committee comprised of only Democrats and two anti-Trump former Republicans, who are both leaving Congress at the end of this term.
Among the other referrals could be potential misuse of public office for political purposes and potential evidence presented to inspectors general in the government, Politico speculated.
The office report from the anti-Trump House committee will come Wednesday, Dec. 21 before Congress recesses for the Christmas holiday.
Thompson told reporters the committee has decided to issue the referrals recommending criminal prosecution, but did not disclose who the targets will be or if former President Donald Trump will be among them.
"At this point, there'll be a separate document coming from me to DOJ," Thompson told reporters Monday at the Capitol.
"The committee has determined that referrals to outside entities should be considered as a final part of its work," a spokesperson for the select committee told The Associated Press. "The committee will make decisions about specifics in the days ahead."
The decision to issue referrals is not unexpected. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the committee, has for months been hinting at sending the Justice Department criminal referrals based on the extensive evidence the nine-member panel has gathered since it was formed in July 2021.
While Congress can send criminal referrals to the Justice Department — marking a symbolic act — it is ultimately up to federal prosecutors whether to pursue charges. The potential charges the committee has been hinting against Trump include conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress.
Over the course of its investigation, the committee has referred several members of Trump's inner circle to the agency for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas. So far only one contempt of Congress charge, against Steve Bannon, has turned into an indictment.
With the select committee set to dissolve at the end of the year, lawmakers do not appear to be putting up a fight to secure Trump's testimony. But his criminal referral, as Cheney and others have suggested, could prove to be a much more powerful closing argument.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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