DoJ Would Be 'Foolish' to Ignore Evidence From Jan 6 Report: Kirschner

The Department of Justice (DoJ) must seriously consider all the evidence presented by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack before deciding on whether to bring forward indictments, according to a former federal prosecutor.

Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC, was discussing how the January 6 panel is considering recommending criminal referrals for five people including Trump in its final report on the Capitol riot.

As well as former president Donald Trump, the January 6 panel is reported to be weighing up whether to recommend that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, as well as former DoJ official Jeffrey Clark, should face prosecution over January 6 and attempts to overturn the 2020 Election, reported CNN.

Speaking on his Justice Matters YouTube channel, Kirschner said that, while any criminal referral from the January 6 panel would be merely symbolic, as the decision will still come down to the DoJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland, it would be "very hard to ignore a recommendation" from the congressional panel.

"It cannot help but impact the Department of Justice," Kirschner said. "To turn a completely blind eye to that would be foolish and foolhardy, and frankly, would do a disservice to a co-equal branch of government."

Kirschner added that all prosecutors must make their prosecutorial decisions based on evidence and "tune out" outsider voices and other potential influences. Even if further evidence has been submitted to them from the January 6 panel in their final report, the DoJ's will still need to clarify what is presented.

"Prosecutors will accept the information from Congress. They will certainly accept the evidence, the transcripts, the documents, the bits of evidence which were subpoenaed by the January 6 committee—because evidence is evidence from whatever source," Kirschner said.

"But when the transcripts are delivered, the DoJ will have lots of follow-up to do. You can't blindly rely on a transcript which is handed to you; you have to follow up with the witness."

Kirschner added he believes the panel will be able to present their evidence and criminal referrals in such a way that it will "move the needle significantly" in the direction of indictments.

Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson said before the January 6 panel met on Sunday that it may decide on whether to recommend criminal referrals.

"I think the more we looked at the body of evidence that we had collected, we just felt that, while we're not in the business of investigating people for criminal activities, we just couldn't overlook some of them," Thompson told reporters on Thursday, December 8.

Speaking on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, panel member California Rep. Adam Schiff also said that the committee will be making criminal referrals in its final report and that the DoJ will make use of the evidence.

"And I think it makes an important statement, not a political one, but a statement about the evidence of an attack on the institutions of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, that Congress examining an attack on itself is willing to report criminality," Schiff said.

Newsweek has contacted the DoJ for comment.