This committee has never built a case against Donald Trump simply to let him off the hook.
For months, the story of an insurrectionary conspiracy with the former president at the center has been told.
In drawing a timeline for the Capitol attack, committee members repeatedly pointed to Donald Trump.
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. photo: AP
Of course, they have yet to agree to make a deferment on the proposed charges, as reported by US media. Don’t bet against it.
Their findings would always put Trump in the frame.
Anything less would send a message to both prosecutors and the public that they have no questions to answer and they will not allow that to happen.
That doesn’t mean an early morning knock on the door in Mar-a-Lago, at least not yet.
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The January 6 committee is made up of politicians, who make a policy finding and will pass any recommendations to the Justice Department.
It will be his job to pursue any criminal charges and it is a job that has already begun.
January 6 — and Trump’s part of it — is already in the department’s files along with the investigation into confidential documents found at his Mar-a-Lago Florida home.
photo: AP
The detectives will insist their investigation is airtight and unaffected by outside events, but the context is being altered by a congressional committee calling for criminal charges.
When politicians playing detective say “prosecute”, it raises public expectations. The real detectives will have some explaining to do if I disagree.
In the midst of all this, of course, is Donald Trump and his plans for a second term in the White House.
Decisions made next week, and in the weeks to come, matter to him and to his political ambition.
They could dictate the time spent on the campaign trail versus the court.
And everywhere beyond.
