Incitement to incite riot, conspiracy against the government of the United States, incitement to make false statements, or obstruction of a government process. There are four serious crimes that Donald Trump should be charged with if the U.S. Capitol Investigation Committee had anything to do with them. The members unanimously decided on Monday to recommend that the Justice Department charge the ex-president.
Never before has Congress made such a decision against a sitting or former US president. But in the end, a single sentence will suffice as a reason, the commission wrote in a first summary of its final report: “Without that sentence, none of the events of January 6 would have happened.”
Trump was the founder and center of the conspiracy, which crept into more and more minds over the course of weeks and also focused on violence from the start to get him to power. It has been nearly two years since Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, fueled by a mixture of hatred, contempt for democracy and a fanatical belief that Joe Biden did not win the election but “stole.”
The symbolism means a lot
The decision of the Commission of Inquiry has mainly symbolic value and has no legal relevance. Ultimately, a prosecutor would have to press charges. And even then, there would still be a long way to go before a possible guilty verdict. But symbolism means a lot in this day and age, in this case. A constitutional state that would not even attempt such a coup d’état would have lost its raison d’être.
Or, as Adam Schiff put it, one of the committee members: “I think the day we let a president, former president, or any other person with power or influence get away with something, that day should say: That was the beginning of the end of our democracy.”
So the commission is putting enormous pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland and recently appointed special counsel Jack Smith. They have not yet decided whether they really want to indict Trump. But they now need good arguments not to follow the committee. Should Trump be found guilty, the result would not only be a hefty fine or prison for the former president. But also the ban on ever holding political office again. And that is actually the core of the committee’s work in recent months.
The circle of co-conspirators
In addition to a possible prison sentence, this aspect may seem minor. But he carries a message beyond lip service: Anyone who treats democracy this way has no place in American politics. Not only Trump, who crossed every line he was told and could usually trust that there were no consequences, will now feel this. But anyone who still supports him and works to bring him or people like him back to power.
The burden of proof against Trump is enormous. But therein lay the committee’s weakness. He constantly wrestled with the question of how – and against whom – one should proceed in order to achieve the greatest possible success. Liz Cheney, who was one of the few Republicans to publicly oppose Trump and whose political career is therefore coming to an end for the time being, is said to have insisted that the rest of the committee’s work be focused solely on Trump.
She appears to have failed: Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and three other attorneys must also be charged as co-conspirators, the committee decided.
At least with the general public, it shouldn’t matter much. Of course, everyone is mainly talking about Trump and less about others. On the one hand, there are those who made possible what he did, and their number far exceeds the handful of those who were also accused. On the other hand, those whose lives have been irretrievably damaged or even wiped out.
The police officers who risked their lives that day and are now severely traumatized in some cases, and the relatives of those who died that day, were not absent from any of the gatherings. In a deeply moving hearing, two Georgia campaigners described how Trump’s lies continue to terrorize their daily lives.
The committee demonstrates Trump’s unscrupulousness
With Trump, the main responsible for this is now being named. “There is no doubt — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of this day”: This sentence does not come from a Democrat. But by Mitch McConnell, one of the most prominent Republican representatives in Congress. He spoke shortly after Jan. 6, when Democrats tried to impeach Trump for the second time. That failed because McConnell voted against impeachment despite this publicly expressed guilt. His party demanded no accountability from Trump, even though they openly admitted who they brought to the White House.
The Commission of Inquiry has since taken over. He bases his indictment advice on testimonies from people who, with few exceptions, belong to the Republican Party or who once supported Trump.
That, too, should send a signal: It is entirely possible to break with Trump and work to restore the faith in democracy that he destroyed. So far, those who dare to be outnumbered — even ex-Vice President Mike Pence said Congress had “no right” to his testimony. This shows once again that the assimilation of direct responsibility for the events of January 6 can have a provisional result – but the question of what and who enabled Trumpism is far from it.
In principle, more should be remembered about the work of this body than just the recommendation to impeach Trump. Work that most Americans didn’t even realize. Over the past year and a half, MPs have had more than a thousand discussions. The image they gradually pulled out showed the wantonness and unscrupulousness with which Trump and his entourage acted.
But only a fraction of these speeches took place in public, and although these hearings followed extensive dramaturgy, the echo and especially the horror may have been confined to a relatively small audience. All material is expected to be released in the coming days. A historic document that allows everyone to read individually how Trump and his co-conspirators not only allowed this uprising, including the deadly violence surrounding that day, to happen, but also deliberately brought about over a long period of time.
It is now all the more important that action be taken where Congress has no authority. Starting in January, the Republicans, who have always made the excuse that Trump should be the one to judge, will once again have the majority in the House of Representatives. However, now that this recommendation is officially in the hands of the prosecuting authorities, suppression and transmission is no longer possible.
But whether such a person takes office again and perhaps January 6 repeats itself, or whether it counts that a president at least respects the basic principles of the democratic community – that is really the decision of the American citizens.
This article was first published on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed the headings and subheadings. Here’s the original.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
