The New Evidence That Led to Trump's Criminal Referral

The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot is releasing a massive cache of evidence this week as the 18-month investigation comes to a close.

"Our committee had the opportunity last spring to present much of our evidence to a federal judge," committee member Representative Jamie Raskin said on Monday. "The judge concluded that both former President Donald Trump and John Eastman likely violated two federal criminal statutes."

The panel announced that based on evidence assembled throughout its hearings, the select committee would urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue four criminal charges against Trump: insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to make false statements and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. The House panel also made criminal referrals for Trump attorney John Eastman.

This week, the committee will also release the transcripts of more than 1,000 witness interviews and documents that lawmakers hope will help prosecutors with their investigation. The DOJ is already conducting its own probe into Trump's involvement in last year's attack on the Capitol. So far, no charges have been made.

Some of the new evidence will come from key Trump officials, including former White House advisers Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway.

Among the new testimony that was shared by the House panel on Monday is a text from January 6, 2021, between Hicks and former White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, who told Hicks that Trump "really should tweet something about Being NON-violent."

Around 2:19 p.m. ET that day, Hicks responded: "I'm not there I suggested it several times Monday and Tuesday and he refused."

Hicks also testified to the committee that White House lawyer Eric Herschmann also wanted Trump to put out a statement before January 6 calling for no violence that day—a recommendation he made "directly" to the former president—but that Trump "refused" to do so.

Hicks' new testimony is likely to bolster the insurrection charge the panel is referring Trump for, suggesting that he was made aware of the likelihood of violence ahead of the Capitol riot and that he chose not to act on that foreknowledge.

The symbolic decision to make criminal referrals against a former president has long been debated by the committee.

Although the committee's influence may ramp up pressure for a prosecution, the DOJ is not required to consider the referrals from Congress.

Hicks was also asked by congressional investigators how Trump responded when his advisers told him there was no evidence of election fraud and that they were concerned about the damage his rhetoric may do to his legacy.

"He said something along the lines of, 'Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning,'" Hicks said.

Another video testimony from Conway revealed that Trump minimized the seriousness of the attack on the Capitol on January 7, 2021, telling her "these people are very upset," Conway recalled. She also remembered that the former president didn't see the need to put out a statement apologizing in the days after the riot.