Donald Trump Criminal Referral Causes Republican Meltdown

Republicans expressed outrage after the January 6 committee announced criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump on Monday.

The select congressional committee spent months investigating the Capitol riot, which saw a mob of Trump supporters violently attempt to force Congress to block President Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory. Committee members have sought to prove Trump's involvement in inciting the violence and failing to prevent its escalation.

On Monday, the committee convened for its final meeting.

In addition to voting unanimously to approve the final report, which is set to be released later this week, the committee also issued four criminal referrals against the former president. The charges included obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make a false statement and to "incite," "assist," or "aid or comfort" an insurrection.

Several Republicans lashed out at the committee following the meeting.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, accused the committee of issuing the referrals based upon political motivations.

"The J6 communist committee wants to stop President Trump because even after stealing the election they can't beat him, so now they want to haul him into court," Greene tweeted.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who has served on Trump's legal team, made a similar accusation, tweeting: "It's clear that the purpose of the committee is to destroy a man willing to stand up to the permanent Washington political class and their corrupt cabal—the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."

Conservative journalist Kyle Becker tweeted: "People who love America don't do what the J6 committee did to a former president who is 'guilty' only of asserting his constitutional right to challenge elections and to encourage people to peacefully protest. The Democrats are the most un-American party in this nation's history."

Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, wrote in a statement that the House Republicans, who retook a slim majority during the midterms, will "hold House Democrats accountable for their illegitimate abuse of power."

"House Democrats and Vicious Never Trumpers, who were run out of Congress by the American people, continue to desperately and unconstitutionally target President Trump and Republicans," Stefanik said.

Conservative pundit Tomi Lahren tweeted: "The whole Jan 6th never-ending saga serves 2 purposes only: 1) an ATTEMPT to make irrelevant republicans relevant again (not gonna happen @RepKinzinger @Liz_Cheney) 2) stigmatize ANY legit discussion on voter fraud."

Meanwhile, Trump responded to the referrals on Truth Social, attacking Representative Liz Cheney, the Wyoming congresswoman who was one of two Republicans to sit on the committee and who also lost renomination during the GOP primary.

"...But Liz Chaney lost by a record 40 points!" he wrote, misspelling Cheney's name.

Later, in another Truth Social post on Monday evening, Trump downplayed the criminal referrals as a "partisan attempt to sideline" him.

"These folks don't get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home," he wrote.

He added: "The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, the DBI, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I'll win and that this whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was—a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office and political analysts for comment.