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The House Jan. 6 committee is poised to make a criminal referral against former President Donald Trump on Monday, but it may not be a slam-dunk win for the panel.
A criminal referral against a former president would be unprecedented and likely will ignite an already volatile political environment.
“It is still not clear what such criminal referrals would be based on. The past referrals have dealt with relatively cut-and-dry issues of contempt as with [Stephen K.] Bannon. The more serious possible offenses would come with far more difficult constitutional questions.” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.
Mr. Turley added that any charge indicating that Mr. Trump incited the riot would result in a likely challenge if it’s based on free-speech rights.
The committee could propose charges against Mr. Trump of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. or obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress. The penalty for the conspiracy charge is up to 10 years in prison. The obstruction charge carries a potential prison term of not more than five years or not more than eight years if the offense involves domestic or international terrorism.
