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The House committee examining last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol issued its long-awaited final report on Thursday night, marking the culmination of a historic investigation that’s captivated Congress and the country for the last 18 months.
The thrust of the committee’s argument has centered on the accusation that former President Trump, while still in the White House, sought to use his executive authority in an illegal effort to cling to power despite his 2020 election defeat. And the 845-page report aims to fill out the underlying details of investigative findings that were aired publicly over the course of 10 televised hearings that spanned seven months of this year.
Largely excluded from those public forums, however, were any specific proposals to prevent another rampage like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack — recommendations that were an explicit responsibility of the Jan. 6 committee.
The final report filled that void, providing 11 reform proposals designed to ensure the peaceful transition between presidents that eluded the country in 2021.
Here are those recommendations.14th Amendment
One of the most striking proposals put forth by the panel aims to bar Trump from holding public office in the future under the 14th Amendment, which prohibits individuals from serving if they “engaged in insurrection.” The committee called on Congress to consider “creating a formal mechanism for evaluating whether to bar” individuals in the report from holding government office under the constitutional statute.
The report notes that Trump was impeached by the House for incitement of insurrection following the riot, that 57 senators voted to convict him of the charge, and that more recently, the committee referred the former president to the Justice Department for inciting, assisting or aiding and comforting an insurrection.
“The committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and then, on January 6th, engaged in insurrection can appropriately be disqualified and barred from holding government office — whether federal or state, civilian or military — absent at least two-thirds of Congress acting to remove the disability pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the report reads.
The recommendation is similar to legislation Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) introduced last week, which would prevent Trump from holding public office in the future under the 14th Amendment.Subpoena enforcement
The Jan. 6 committee conducted more than 1,000 interviews with witnesses of all stripes, an overwhelming majority of whom appeared before the panel voluntarily. But a number of high-profile Trump allies declined to cooperate, even under subpoena from the panel, leaving large holes in the Jan. 6 narrative that may never be filled.
The list included prominent figures with unique, first-hand knowledge of the events of the day, including Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who spoke to Trump by phone in the midst of the riot.
In response, the committee is recommending that Congress grant itself greater powers to enforce its own subpoenas in federal courts. Protection for poll workers
Among the most compelling testimony through the Jan. 6 hearings came from poll workers who said their lives were upended after Trump’s allies accused them — falsely — of tampering with the elections to help Joe Biden.
The attacks have sparked concerns that election workers across the country will be discouraged from pursuing those duties at the expense of the electoral process overall.
