House Jan. 6 Committee Is Investigating Whether Trump Committed A Crime On Jan. 6

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) said on Sunday that the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is also examining whether former President Donald Trump committed a crime in attempting to undermine the 2020 election.

“Nobody is above the law,” Kinzinger said. “And if the president knowingly allowed what happened on Jan. 6 to happen, and in fact was giddy about it, and that violates a criminal statute, he needs to be held accountable for that.”

Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the committee. He said that he is currently undecided as to whether Trump is guilty. However, he said, “by the end of our investigation, and by the time our report is out,” he believes that the committee will “have a pretty good idea.”

Committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) suggested at a hearing last week that Trump could have behaved criminally. When discussing the involvement of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cheney said, “Mr. Meadows’s testimony will bear on another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’ official proceeding to count electoral votes?”

A federal felony statute states that “whoever corruptly … obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be … imprisoned not more than 20 years.”

Last week, the House voted to recommend Meadows be charged for criminal contempt as he violated his subpoena. Before he withdrew his cooperation with the investigation, Meadows had provided thousands of documents.

These documents, which include text messages and emails, which showed that Meadows and various Republicans had had a great deal of involvement in the events of Jan. 6. During the insurrection, Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade all texted Meadows, urging him to convince Trump to call off the attack.

“He is destroying his legacy,” read one text from Ingraham about Trump.

The special committee investigating the insurrection has interviewed hundreds of witnesses and subpoenaed dozens of people as it examines what occurred on Jan. 6.