Evening news summary
We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for the day, after a historic announcement from the January 6 committee that they had voted unanimously to refer former president Donald Trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution on four counts. Here’s a recap of today’s key events:
The four counts of the Trump referrals are for “influencing or impeding an official proceeding of the US government”, “conspiring to defraud the US”, “unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government”, and “assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States”.
The referrals are largely symbolic, as attorney general Merrick Garland will make his own decision on charges at the conclusion of the justice department’s own investigations, headed by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
The panel is also referring four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas, including Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader who is expected to run for speaker of the House when the party takes control of the chamber next year.
The January 6 committee’s full report is expected to be released on Wednesday.
In other high-stakes news, the supreme court’s chief justice, John Roberts, has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from later this week ending a pandemic-era policy of rapidly expelling migrants caught at the US-Mexico border, at the request of Republican officials in 19 states.
Updated
What’s next for the Jan 6 committee?
Though the committee has released an executive summary of its findings, a full report is expected to be made public on Wednesday.
Broader documentation of the committee’s interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses are also expected to be made public in the coming days, CNN reported, satisfying the demands from Trump’s allies to see not just the committee’s clips from interviews with Trump’s confidantes, but the full context.
The committee itself will dissolve, with Republicans holding a majority in Congress next year. Four members of the committee will not be returning to Congress, having lost or chosen not to run for reelection in the midterms. Despite its historic work, the committee “is unlikely to serve as a political steppingstone for many of its members”, the New York Times wrote.
It’s unclear how the committee’s recommendation that Trump should face criminal justice will affect the justice department’s ongoing criminal investigations into Trump’s conduct on 6 January and his handling of top secret documents. Now that Trump is officially running for reelection, the justice department has appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, a career prosecutor and political independent, to oversee those investigations.
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Key event
Breaking: supreme court’s chief justice temporarily blocks end to pandemic-era border restrictions
At the request of Republican officials in 19 states, the supreme court’s chief justice, John Roberts, has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from later this week ending a pandemic-era policy of rapidly expelling migrants caught at the US-Mexico border, Reuters reports.
The Republican officials led by the attorneys general in Arizona and Louisiana on Monday asked the supreme court to act after a federal appeals court on Friday declined to put on hold a judge’s ruling last month that invalidated an emergency order known as Title 42. The policy is set to expire Wednesday.
The Biden administration had faced sharp criticism for extending Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that advocates said had made the legal process of seeking asylum in the US much more dangerous, unstable and unsanitary.
Since the policy was put in place in March 2020, more than 2.4 million migrants have been expelled from the US and prevented from exercising their legal right under US and international law to seek asylum. The policy was justified as a way of preventing the spread of Covid-19.
In November, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to lift the Trump-era asylum restriction, calling the ban “arbitrary and capricious”. The judge gave the justice department five weeks to implement the change, “with great reluctance”, setting the deadline for this Wednesday, 21 December.
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More than 9,000 threats against US lawmakers in past year, Capitol police chief says
As the January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution on four counts, including “assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States”, in another part of the Capitol, the chief of the Capitol police is testifying about the rising number of threats against members of Congress.
On the other side of the Capitol, USCP chief Tom Manger is testifying before Senate Rules. His testimony says there were 9,000 threats against lawmakers this past year https://t.co/XPtcXGo1XX
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) December 19, 2022
Some lawmakers see increased privacy protections as one response:
NEWS: As @CapitolPolice Chief Manger details more than 9,000 threats against lawmakers, Rules Chair @amyklobuchar says she's still pushing Congress to allow lawmakers' addresses to be private
— Nancy Ognanovich (@NOgnanovich) December 19, 2022
'I continue to work to get this done by the end of the year,' Klobuchar says pic.twitter.com/5dL2aMnYCV
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Unanswered questions, ‘unsolved crimes’: the 6 January pipe bombs
After more than a year of work, there are still key questions about 6 January that remain unanswered, including: who was responsible for placing the “viable” pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committee headquarters that were discovered that day?
Amazed that there's not a single mention of the pipe bombs in all 161 pages of the J6 Select Committee's exec summary of their findings, or in their final hearing.
— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) December 19, 2022
Have we all forgotten about the bombs found on J6 - or the fact that the bomb-maker remains at large?
Asked about that issue, congressman Jamie Raskin said “I don’t believe there have been any updates since we first looked into it. Those are unsolved crimes,” CNN reported.
#FBIWFO continues to work with @ATFWashington, @CapitolPolice, @DCPoliceDept to identify the person responsible for placing pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee Headquarters & Republican National Committee Headquarters on 1/5, the night before the Capitol riots. 1/3
— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 6, 2022
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January 6 committee Democrat who lost her House seat: ‘It’s all been worth it.’
This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live politics coverage from Los Angeles.
Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria of Virginia, a member of the January 6 House committee, lost her reelection bid to her Republican opponent.
As Luria recapped the January 6 committee’s recommendations this afternoon, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked her if she thought the committee’s work had played a role in her loss.
Luria said she believed it had, but that she felt preventing another event like January 6 was more important than her individual political career.
“It’s all been worth it,” she said.
Luria also emphasized that the 2022 midterms more broadly had not produced a wave of victories for the most pro-Trump candidates, as the former president had hoped. “The most emphatic election deniers — they did not win,” she said.
Donald Trump lit the flame, poured gasoline on the fire, and sat in the White House dining room for hours watching the fire burn as rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Today, he continues to fan those flames.
— Rep. Elaine Luria (@RepElaineLuria) December 19, 2022
This was his dereliction of duty. pic.twitter.com/2bj4zZfmC8
Luria and other Democrats told the New York Times they believed the January 6 committee’s work had more importance for midterm voters than polls had indicated.
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Four law enforcement officers who came under attack during the January 6 Capitol riot have just been on CNN, sharing their thoughts about the criminal referrals for Donald Trump handed down this afternoon by the January 6 House committee.
Daniel Hodges, DC Metropolitan Police:
It’s entirely appropriate. I don’t think anything is really surprising about the charges. The chatter was whether it would be meaningful at all for the committee to make these referrals and I think it is, even if it’s just symbolic.
Symbols have meanings, symbols of power, and, you know, future generations [will] look back and say that this branch of Congress, this branch of government, did the best they could to make accountability happen.
Michael Fanone, DC Metropolitan police:
I think it was appropriate having sat through each and every one of the committee’s hearings. This was the inevitable outcome. Again, you know, it is symbolic and it’s up to the Department of Justice, ultimately, to seek criminal accountability for those responsible for the January 6 insurrection.
Aquilino Gonell, US Capitol Police:
It’s been very meaningful to have that coming from Congress, given the amount of evidence that they uncovered, and it’s appropriate.
Harry Dunn, US Capitol Police:
I’m glad that they did it. But respectfully to the January 6 committee, it’s been two years. We knew what they announced today on January 7, 2021.
I really appreciate all the work that they’ve done and they’re continuing to do, and the justice department is doing. But I don’t even want to get into the what ifs if they don’t [charge Trump].
Updated
Here’s our full story about this afternoon’s House January 6 committee meeting that approved criminal referrals for Donald Trump. Chris Stein reports:
The January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the justice department to face criminal charges, accusing the former president of fomenting an insurrection and conspiring against the government over his attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, and the bloody attack on the US Capitol.
The committee’s referrals approved by its members Monday are the first time in American history that Congress has recommended charges against a former president. It comes after more than a year of investigation by the bipartisan House of Representatives panel tasked with understanding Trump’s plot to stop Joe Biden from taking office.
“The committee believes that more than sufficient evidence exists for a criminal referral of former President Trump for assisting or aiding and comforting those at the Capitol who engaged in a violent attack on the United States,” congressman Jamie Raskin said as the committee held its final public meeting.
“The committee has developed significant evidence that President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power under our Constitution. The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.”
The committee accused Trump of breaching four federal criminal statutes, including those relating to obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, assisting an insurrection and conspiring to defraud the United States. It also believed Trump committed seditious conspiracy — the same charge for which two members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia group were found guilty of by a jury last month.
The lawmakers also referred four Republican House representatives to the chamber’s ethics committee. The group includes Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader who is expected to run for speaker of the House when the party takes control of the chamber next year.
Read the full story:
Trump 'charges' carry potential 25-year prison term
Donald Trump could face up to 25 years in prison if he is convicted of the four criminal charges for which a House panel this afternoon referred him to the justice department.
The US code on assisting with or engaging in an insurrection allows for a sentence of up to 10 years, and disqualification from holding or running for “any office under the United States” for anyone convicted.
The former president announced his third run for the White House as a Republican last month.
As for the other three charges Trump could face, all carry prison terms of up to five years, “conspiracy to defraud the US”, “unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government”; and “influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government”.
There is, of course, uncertainty over whether the justice department will charge Trump with these crimes, far more whether he would be convicted. But this is the first time we know of the potential penalties Trump faces for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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January 6 panel releases executive summary of its findings
We’ll see the full report (hopefully) on Wednesday, but here’s the executive summary of the January 6 House panel’s findings, published this afternoon at the conclusion of its final meeting.
It gives an outline of the 18-month investigation and key findings that resulted in a criminal referral for Donald Trump on four federal charges today, including assisting in or engaging in an insurrection.
House panel: Trump criminal referral a 'roadmap to justice'
The House panel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat has referred the former president for four criminal charges, including engaging in an insurrection, in what the committee’s chair says is a “roadmap to justice”.
The stunning, unprecedented referral of an ex-president came at the final meeting of the bipartisan panel on Monday afternoon. The nine members also voted unanimously to approve the final report of the 18-month investigation, which will be released on Wednesday.
The committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the January riot and during his efforts to remain in power after his defeat by Joe Biden.
The panel is also referring four Republican members of Congress to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas.
The Trump referrals are for “influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government”, “conspiring to defraud the US”, “unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government”, and “assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States”.
Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, the panel chair, said the referrals will be transmitted to the justice department in very short order.
They are largely symbolic, as attorney general Merrick Garland will make his own decision on charges at the conclusion of the justice department’s own investigations, headed by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
But, speaking to CNN after the session, Thompson said:
I’m convinced the justice department will charge former president Trump. No-one, including the former president, is above the law.
In his opening remarks to the meeting, Thompson said: “We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice.”
John Eastman, Trump’s attorney, whom the panel said had helped Trump in his conspiracy to stay in power, was also referred. Unnamed others are also likely to face referrals, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and former department of justice official Jeffrey Clark.
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin announced the referrals. “Ours is not a system where foot soldiers go to jail, and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass,” Raskin said:
The president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against the constitutional order.
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Here are some more tweets from the House January 6 committee session today:
Congresswoman Elaine Luria: "President Trump lit the flame, he poured gasoline on the fire and sat back in the White House dining room for hours watching the fire burn."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 19, 2022
"Our Committee had the opportunity last Spring to present much of our evidence to a federal judge... The judge concluded that both former President Donald Trump and John Eastman likely violated two federal criminal statutes."
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 19, 2022
-@RepRaskin
Liz Cheney: “Every president in our history has defended this orderly transfer of authority except one.” pic.twitter.com/HmGcnjLbBq
— Republicans against Trumpism (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 19, 2022
The January 6 Committee has just referred Donald John Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 19, 2022
There is sufficient evidence that he committed multiple crimes.
And it’s past time for him to face justice.
The four Republican congressmen who have been referred to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with the January 6 panel’s subpoenas are Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader and would-be speaker from California; Jim Jordan of Ohio; Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
New: Jan. 6 referrals subcommittee chair Jamie Raskin recommends referring House Republicans — understood to be Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs — to the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with lawful subpoenas
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) December 19, 2022
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Illinois Republican and penal member Adam Kinzinger appears to have hit his tweet button within seconds of the hearing ending:
Our work on the @January6thCmte has led us to criminally refer Donald Trump to DOJ. We now turn to the criminal justice system to ensure Justice under the law. The American people can ensure he’s never elected again.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) December 19, 2022
January 6 panel approves final report, adjourns
The final act of the members of the January 6 House panel was to vote unanimously to approve its final report, which will be released on Wednesday.
But the “wow” moment of the hearing, which lasted a little more than one hour, was undoubtedly the historic, unprecedented criminal referral to the justice department of former president Donald Trump, including for assisting with or engaging in an insurrection against the United States.
We’ll have plenty more reaction and analysis coming up. Please stick with us.
House panel recommends criminal referrals for Trump
The January 6 House panel is recommending criminal referrals for Donald Trump, his lawyer John Eastman and others for violating four federal criminal statutes, Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin says.
They are “influencing or impeding a an official proceeding of the US government”, “conspiring to defraud the US”, “unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government”, and “assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States”.
Four members of Congress will also be referred to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with subpoenas, he says.
“Ours is not a system where foot soldiers go to jail, and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass,” Raskin said.
The referrals will be sent to the justice department in short order, panel chair Bennie Thompson says.
More details to come…
Updated
Peter Aguilar, a California Democrat, is focusing on the role of vice-president Mike Pence, whom Trump’s supporters wanted to hang on the afternoon of the January 6 riot.
Pence had rejected Trump’s urging to refuse to certify the election count in Congress, which he correctly stated he did not have the authority to do. Aguilar said:
This culminated in an angry phone call on the morning of January 6, between President Trump and vice-president Pence during which the former president repeatedly berated Mr Pence by cursing and leveling threats.
In his speech on the ellipse on the afternoon of January 6, former president Trump told the crowd that Pence needed the courage to do what he has to do.
Once the riot began, President Trump deliberately chose to issue a tweet attacking Mr Pence, knowing that the crowd it already grown violent.
Rioters at the Capitol were heard chanting ‘Hang Mike Pence’ through the afternoon is the result of this unrest. Vice-president Pence was forced to flee to a secure location.”
Updated
Kinzinger: Trump sought legitimacy for election lie
Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger is talking about Trump’s moves to install an ally, Jeffrey Clark, as acting attorney general to ensure his election plot would succeed.
The effort came, Kinzinger said, after attorney general William Barr resigned, soon after telling Trump that the justice department had “properly investigated and debunked” claims of election fraud:
President Trump requested that the acting leadership of the department, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donahue, quote ‘just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen’, in other words, just tell a small lie to put the facade of legitimacy on this line.
Mr Rosen and Mr Donohue told him that the fraud claims were simply untrue. As [they] continued to resist, President Trump then tried to install a loyalist named Jeffrey Clark, to lead the department as acting attorney general on several occasions.
Mr Clark intended to send a letter to officials in numerous states informing them, falsely of course, the department had identified significant concerns about the election results in their state and encouraging their state legislatures to come into special session to consider appointing [their own] rather than Biden electors.
Schiff: Trump 'pressured election officials' at local, state and federal level
Adam Schiff, another California Democrat, is up next, and is focusing on Donald Trump’s efforts in court, state legislatures and Congress, to reverse his election defeat:
Many state officials were targeted by President Trump and his campaign: the local election workers he accused and baselessly of election fraud, the state officials he pressured to stop the count or to find votes that didn’t exist, and the state legislative officials he urged to disregard the popular will of the voters and their oath of office in order to name him the winner instead.
The most dramatic example of this campaign of coercion was the president’s January 2 2021 call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which the president urged the secretary to find 11,780 votes he needed to change the outcome in that state.
During that call, President Trump again repeated conspiracy theories about the election that his own appointees at the department of justice had already debunked.
Trump, Schiff says, also “oversaw an effort to obtain and transmit false Electoral College ballots to Congress and the National Archives”:
The false ballots were created by fake Republican electors on December 14. At the same time, the actual certified electors in those states were meeting to cast their votes for president.
By that point in time, election related litigation was over in all or nearly all of these states and Trump campaign election lawyers realized that the fake slates were unjustifiable on any grounds and may be unlawful.
In spite of these concerns, and the concerns of individuals in the White House Counsel’s office, President Trump and others proceeded with this plan.
Lofgren: Trump's big lie 'premeditated and unlawful'
California Democrat Zoe Lofgren is addressing the big lie, Trump’s false claim that Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Through interviews with Trump’s aides, officials, and senior campaign members, she says, the panel made several findings, not least one that there was “an enormous effort led by ex-President Trump to spread baseless accusations and disinformation in an attempt to falsely convinced tens of millions of Americans that the election had been stolen from him”:
Ex-President Trump’s decision to declare victory falsely on election night wasn’t a spontaneous decision. It was premeditated. The committee has evidence that the ex-president planned to declare victory, and unlawfully to call for the vote counting to stop.
He told numerous allies about his impact and the weeks before the election. The committee found that Mr Trump raised hundreds of millions of dollars with false representations made to his online donors. The proceeds from his fundraising, we have learned, have been used in ways that we believe are concerning.
Trump’s lies, she says, directly caused the deadly Capitol attack:
Donald Trump knowingly and corruptly repeated election fraud lies, which incited his supporters to violence on January 6, [and he] continues to repeat this meritless claim that the election was stolen even today.
[He] continues to erode our most cherished and shared belief in free and fair elections.
Cheney: Trump's inaction during riot 'shameful'
House January 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican, is speaking next, condemning the “flatly false” statements by Donald Trump, who, she says, insisted the election was stolen and “wouldn’t accept the result”:
“Every president in our history has defended this orderly transfer of authority except one,” she says.
She also echoed chair Bennie Thompson’s words by saying: “In our work over the last 18 months, the select committee has recognized our obligation to do everything we can to ensure this never happens again”.
She’s talking about the riot that ensued when Trump’s mob of supporters overran the Capitol:
Among the most shameful of this committee’s findings was that President Trump sat in the dining room off the Oval Office watching the violent riot at the Capitol and television.
For hours, he would not issue a public statement instructing his supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol, despite urgencies from his White House staff and dozens of others to do so.
Cheney thinks Trump’s inaction heightened the threat to law enforcement officers desperately trying to defend lawmakers who were inside trying to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump:
During this time law enforcement agents were attacked and seriously injured. The Capitol was invaded, the count was halted and the lives of those in the capital were put at risk.
In addition to be unlawful as described in our report, this was an utter moral failure. And a clear dereliction of duty.”
The meeting is now watching video clips of the riot, and videos of witness testimony from this year’s live hearings and depositions supporting the panel’s stance that Trump incited the insurrection.
Updated
Panel chair Bennie Thompson says if the US democracy is to survive, Donald Trump’s insurrection “can never happen again”:
The committee is nearing the end of its work, but as a country we remain in strange and uncharted waters. I believe, nearly two years later, this is still a time of reflection and record. If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again.
We will show that evidence we’ve gathered warrants further action beyond the power of this committee or the Congress to help ensure accountability on the law. Accountability that can always be found in the criminal justice system.
We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide a roadmap to justice, and that the agencies and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law will use the information we provide to aid in their work.
He means, of course, the justice department, which is soon to receive the referrals the House panel will vote on this afternoon.
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January 6 panel chair: Trump 'broke the faith' of US elections
The final public meeting of the House January 6 committee is under way, with chair Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, laying out what’s to follow during the course of the session.
Thompson opens by saying the panel has approved the release of deposition materials.
Donald Trump “broke that faith” he says of the nation’s trust in its election mechanisms:
He lost the 2020 election and knew it. But he chose to try to stay in office through a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power.
We’ve never had a president of the United States stir up a violent attempt to block the transfer of power.
The committee is expected to vote shortly on referring Trump to the justice department for criminal charges, likely to include obstruction of a proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the US, and assisting an insurrection.
Thompson told CNN just before the hearing that the panel expected to send any referrals it makes today to the justice department in very short order.
The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief David Smith is at the January 6 House committee meeting. Here’s his first take:
Congressional aides, journalists and members of the public are filtering into what is now called the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room for the final meeting of the US House of Representatives panel investigating the January 6 attack.
For the last time a giant pulldown screen at the front of the room says “Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol”. Beneath it are five flags and a row of seats for the panel members with “Mr Thompson, chairman” at the centre. Photographers are clustering nearby ready for the final entrance. It’s strictly business: no Christmas tree or seasonal decorations.
Unless media reports are spectacularly wide of the mark, the committee is about to recommend that the justice department consider criminal charges against former president Donald Trump. These could include obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States and insurrection.
A criminal referral would be mostly symbolic since the justice department itself will decide whether to pursue prosecutions.
But the move would represent yet another blow to Trump’s hapless 2024 presidential campaign, already reeling from poor midterm election results, a controversial dinner with antisemites Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Nick Fuentes and a bizarre get-rich-quick scheme involving digital trading cards.
The January 6 House committee’s “business meeting” will begin in minutes. Here’s California Democrat and panel member Adam Schiff’s take on things.
The country, he said, will hold the justice department to applying “the same standard of law to Donald Trump as they would to any citizen”.
The Justice Department must apply the same standard of law to Donald Trump as they would to any citizen.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 19, 2022
That's what Attorney General Garland promised to do.
And the country will hold the Department to it. pic.twitter.com/UcK1HnV4ZJ
Interim summary
As we await the start of the final, milestone public session of the House select committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by extremist supporters of then-president Donald Trump, here’s where things stand:
The bipartisan House panel is expected to urge the Department of Justice to prosecute Donald Trump and several senior figures from his time in office, by voting on criminal referrals relating to their activities leading up to and including the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The panel is set to vote on the criminal referrals and also to vote on accepting the final report of its investigation.
The report is expected on Wednesday and today the public expects to hear about the executive summary and the chapters on various aspects of the planning and execution of the insurrection.
Jury selection begins today in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the extremist group accused of plotting the deadly January 6 Capitol attack.
Updated
Joe Biden is condemning growing antisemitism, in remarks for a Hanukah reception at the White House that will include a menorah lighting and blessing.
The US president will tell guests at tonight’s event that silence is complicity, according to White House officials, and will add that it’s imperative that hate, violence and antisemitism are condemned, the Associated Press reports.
The holiday celebration comes during a spate of antisemitic episodes. Former president Donald Trump hosted a Holocaust-denying white supremacist at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The rapper Ye expressed love for Adolf Hitler in an interview. Basketball star Kyrie Irving appeared to promote an antisemitic film on social media. Neo-Nazi trolls are clamoring to return to Twitter as new CEO Elon Musk grants “amnesty” to suspended accounts.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, tracked 2,717 antisemitic instances of assault, harassment and vandalism last year, a 34% increase over the previous year and the highest number since the New York City-based group began tracking them in 1979.
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice-President Kamala Harris, recently hosted a White House discussion on antisemitism and combating hate with Jewish leaders representing the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox denominations of the faith. At the event, Emhoff, who is Jewish, said he was “in pain right now” over rising antisemitism.
Among those invited to Monday’s White House event are a Holocaust survivor and retired public school teacher, a rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Michele Taylor, who is US ambassador to the UN human rights council and the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
A menorah has been added to the White House holiday collection this year, lit nightly during the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukah. White House carpenters built the menorah out of wood that was saved from a Truman-era renovation and sterling silver candle cups.
Updated
The Biden administration has released its plan seeking to reduce homelessness in the US by 25% inside three years.
The White House is calling the project “All In”, certainly a catchier name and less of a mouthful than its formal title of the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.
Essentially, it looks to reverse the increase in homelessness caused since 2016 by various factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn.
The U.S. can #endhomelessness by fixing systems—not blaming the people being failed by them. The Biden-Harris Administration’s new plan outlines strategies and actions for doing just that.
— USICHgov (@USICHgov) December 19, 2022
Read "All In": https://t.co/FGHshiKi2H pic.twitter.com/AVmGVyOvju
The figures have crept up despite administration efforts such as an eviction moratorium through the pandemic, and the emergency rental assistance program using funds from the American Rescue Plan.
The White House says it’s looking to more productive partnerships with state and local authorities to keep people in their homes, and find accommodation for those on the street.
You can read the White House homelessness fact sheet here.
One of the key players on the January 6 House panel, and a frequent vocal critic of Donald Trump, has been California Democrat Adam Schiff. He was on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday to offer thoughts. Victoria Bekiempis reports:
The California congressman Adam Schiff said on Sunday that he believed there was “sufficient evidence” to criminally charge Donald Trump in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Schiff’s dramatic statement on CNN’s State of the Union came one day before the House January 6 select committee to which he belongs is poised to release an outline of its extensive investigative report on the US Capitol attack, which has been linked to nine deaths, including the suicides of traumatized law enforcement officers.
The committee is expected to use its last meeting on Monday to refer Trump, as well as others, to the US justice department in relation to the former president’s attempts to reverse his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.
During this final meeting, the panel is expected to outline an executive summary of its findings, propose legislative recommendations, vote to adopt the report – and then vote on possible criminal and civil referrals. Schiff is one of nine members, seven of whom are Democrats like him, serving on the January 6 committee.
The potential referrals involving Trump are expected to involve obstruction of an official congressional proceeding as well as conspiracy to defraud the United States. The Guardian first reported the nature of these referrals.
Schiff told CNN host Jake Tapper that he “can’t comment” on specifics of any possible referrals. The predicted criminal referrals are effectively symbolic because Congress cannot force prosecutors to pursue charges.
“I think that the evidence is there that Trump committed criminal offenses in connection with his efforts to overturn the election,” said Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee. “And viewing it as a former prosecutor, I think there’s sufficient evidence to charge the [former] president.”
Read the full story:
January 6 report: what we're expecting to see
The full report from the January 6 House committee might not be released today, but we already have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like.
It will be lengthy publication, befitting the 18-month investigation into Donald Trump’s insurrection that included testimony from more than 1,000 witness interviews, a review of more than one million documents, and an analysis of hundreds of hours of video.
Sources close to the inquiry say the report will feature an executive summary and eight chapters, although Politico reported last week that it’s also likely to include appendices that capture more aspects of the investigation, and findings from all of the select committee’s five investigative teams.
Here are the outlines of the expected eight chapters, which Politico says will align closely with the evidence the panel unveiled during its public hearings in June and July:
Donald Trump’s effort to sow distrust in the results of the election.
The then-president’s pressure on state governments or legislatures to overturn victories by Joe Biden.
Trump campaign efforts to send fake, pro-Trump electors to Washington from states won by Biden.
Trump’s push to deploy the justice department in service of his election scheme.
The pressure campaign by Trump and his lawyers against then-vice president Mike Pence.
Trump’s effort to summon supporters to Washington who later fueled the 6 January mob.
The 187 minutes of chaos during which Trump refused to tell rioters to leave the Capitol.
An analysis of the attack on the Capitol.
It’s possible we might not see publication of the committee’s full, final report until later this week, possibly on Wednesday. But the panel will vote on its release later today.
Updated
As the clock ticks down to this afternoon’s final “business meeting” of the January 6 House committee, let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers. Martin Pengelly reports:
Another Kennedy is headed for Ireland. The state department said Monday that Joe Kennedy, of the storied Irish-American political family, would become US special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic affairs.
Kennedy, 42, will focus on advancing economic development in Northern Ireland and people to people ties between the citizens of the two countries, secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement, according to Reuters.
“His role builds on the longstanding US commitment to supporting peace, prosperity, and stability in Northern Ireland and the peace dividends of the Belfast Good Friday agreement,” Blinken said.
I welcome Joe Kennedy III as the U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs. He will be instrumental to ensuring deeper U.S. support for economic growth in Northern Ireland to benefit everyone.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 19, 2022
Kennedy is grandson of former attorney general Robert F Kennedy, and great-nephew to former president John F Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960s. He served eight years in the House before losing a Senate bid in Massachusetts in 2020.
His cousin Caroline Kennedy, a former ambassador to Japan and daughter of the late president, is ambassador to Australia.
Updated
Sedition trial begins for Proud Boys leaders
Jury selection begins today in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the extremist group accused of plotting the deadly January 6 Capitol attack.
Tarrio and four of his lieutenants are heading to trial in Washington DC, the Associated Press reports, just weeks after two leaders of another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a major victory for the justice department’s extensive 6 January prosecution.
Tarrio is perhaps the highest-profile defendant to face jurors yet in the attack that delayed the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, left dozens of police injured and led to nearly 1,000 arrests.
Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs are charged with several other crimes in addition to seditious conspiracy. If convicted of sedition, they could face up to 20 years in prison.
Jury selection is likely to take several days, and the trial is expected to last at least six weeks.
Here’s a handy explainer from my colleague Kira Lerner about the work of the bipartisan January 6 House committee that’s been investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
From the panel’s first meeting in July 2021, through live, televised hearings this year, to its final gathering today, the nine members have focused stringently on the insurrection effort. They have interviewed more than 1,000 witness interviews, reviewed more than one million documents and viewed hundreds of hours of video.
The Select Committee will hold a business meeting today at 1pm ET.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 19, 2022
WATCH LIVE ⤵️https://t.co/qI55tpMLn2
They obtained a massive number of call records, text messages, and emails through subpoenas and also got access to White House records from the National Archives.
The committee assembled five teams to investigate different topic areas and assigned each team a color, the Guardian has previously reported. The issues ranged from efforts by Trump and his associates to pressure federal, state, and local officials to overturn the election to law enforcement and intelligence agency failures.
They also examined domestic extremist groups like QAnon, and online misinformation, those who planned the January 6 rally, the “Stop the Steal” movement and the money behind efforts to overturn the election.
Read the full story:
It’s decision day on criminal referrals for Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.
At 1pm, the bipartisan House panel that has been investigating his insurrection for 18 months will meet for the final time, and has plenty of business to conclude.
It’s expected to vote to refer the former president to the justice department for obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, among other potential charges.
We’ll also hear the panel’s summary of the wide-ranging plot to keep Trump in office, including inciting the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters; and scheming to reverse the election result using fake electors.
California Democrat Adam Schiff, a key member of the panel, said Sunday on CNN he was confident there was “sufficient evidence” to charge Trump, and several of his closest aides and advisors.
They include former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump attorney John Eastman. Also expected are civil referrals to the House ethics committee for Republican members of Congress who defied subpoenas, and a recommendation of disbarments for Trump lawyers.
As my colleague Hugo Lowell writes for the Guardian today:
The anticipated criminal referrals against Trump mark a remarkable moment for a precedent-shattering investigation into the former president’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat at any cost and impede the congressional certification that culminated in the Capitol attack early last year.
Please stick with us for what is certain to be a busy day. We’ll bring you developments as they happen.
While we wait for events to unfold, take a read of our preview of today’s meeting here:
Good morning blog readers, for what promises to be a momentous day in US politics.
It’s a long-awaited moment of reckoning for Donald Trump as the January 6 House panel investigating his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat meets in public for the final time, and votes to recommend referral to the justice department for criminal charges against the former president.
As we reported last week, Trump faces referral for obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the United States, among other potential charges.
But the bipartisan panel has plenty of other business to conclude when it meets at 1pm, including outlining investigative findings and legislative recommendations, voting to formally adopt its final report, then voting on referrals for Trump and several key allies and advisers.
While we’re unlikely to see the full report today, we expect an executive summary, outlining the extraordinary efforts Trump took to stay in power, including unleashing a mob of supporters on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Today we’re also watching:
Chief of the Capitol police Thomas Manger testifies on the security of Congress members at an afternoon meeting of the Senate’s rules and administration committee.
Joe Biden meets with Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso at lunchtime.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 2.30pm.
