1. Trump and others have been referred to the Department of Justice for criminal charges. The big news at the final hearing was that, after a lengthy investigation, committee members were convinced there was enough evidence to confront former President Trump with four charges: obstructing official proceedings; conspiracy to defraud the United States; Conspiracy to make false statements; and Conspiracy to defraud the United States by aiding, assisting, or comforting those involved in rioting But that doesn't mean Trump will be impeached. The Commission has no authority over what the Department of Justice does. The Justice Department has an ongoing investigation into Trump, currently led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith after Trump announced he would run for president again to prove his independence from the investigation. Commission member Jamie Ruskin, D-Md., said, "Our justice system is not one where infantry is sent to prison and masterminds and masterminds are free to pass.
2. The House of Representatives has been referred to the House Ethics Committee. The committee also said it had referred four lawmakers who failed to comply with the subpoena to the House Ethics Committee. They are Republicans in the House. Kevin McCarthy from California, Jim Jordan from Ohio Scott Perry of Pennsylvania Andy Biggs from Arizona All were close allies of Trump, and their opposition to the rule epitomized the hostile style of American politics that had grown even before Trump came on the scene. However, it's unclear if anything will happen, as Republicans control the rerunning Ethics Committee in the next Congress and McCarthy is set to be the next speaker.
3. There is plenty of evidence that Trump knew the truth but didn't want to be seen as a loser. Everything that happened on January 6 happened for the simple reason that Trump didn't have an exit ramp, a way to save his face after losing the 2020 election. That was clear to those of us who have been reporting to Trump for some time and was corroborated by Trump's former White House communications adviser, Hope Hicks, who is very close to Trump. Hicks, who was first heard by us at Monday's hearing, told Trump in a recorded statement that he was concerned that these false fraud claims would hurt his legacy. This was Trump's reaction: "He said things like, 'If I lose, no one will keep my legacy,'" Hicks said.
There is plenty of evidence Trump – and his team – knew he lost, that the allegations of fraud were baseless and that he knew what he was doing, according to testimony from multiple former Trump administration officials. "He was-he had-usually he had pretty clear eyes," said Bill Stephen, the Trump 2020 campaign manager, according to written testimony released in a report by the committee. "Like, he understood, you know – you know, we told him where we thought the race was, and I think he was pretty realistic with our viewpoint, in agreement with our viewpoint of kind of the forecast and the uphill climb we thought he had." Stephen added: "We'd have to, you know, relay the news that, yeah, that tip that someone told you about those votes or that fraud or, you know, nothing came of it. That would be our job as, you know, the truth-telling squad and, you know, not – not a fun job to be, you know, much – it's an easier job to be telling the president about, you know, wild allegations. It's a harder job to be telling him on the back end that, yeah, that wasn't true." One of Trump's campaign lawyers, Alex Cannon, in a mid-to-late November phone call with former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said, per the report, that he found nothing "sufficient to change the results in any of the key States." Meadows replied, saying, "So there is no there, there?" Even Trump counsel Rudy Giuliani admitted during his deposition to the committee: "I do not think the machines stole the election." A federal judge noted that Trump was told by email "that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and in public." And he "signed a verification, swearing under oath that the incorporated, inaccurate numbers 'are true and correct' or 'believed to be true and correct' to the best of his knowledge and belief." These aren't people who are aligned with Democrats or were "Never Trump" or "Trump Haters" as the former president likes to say. Most testimony broadcast by the Commission does the opposite. It's up to mere Trump voters to accept reality without falling into baseless conspiracies.
4. It is unclear whether the results have political implications. It's no secret that the country is politically divided and partisan, especially among Republicans. People were watching selectively, despite the primary evidence from the testimony of Republicans allied with Trump. The Commission acknowledged this in its report: While the Commission hearings were watched live by tens of millions of Americans and were widely covered by nearly every major news source, the Commission also said that other news outlets and commentators were actively aware that we have been discouraging viewers from watching and that millions of other Americans are not doing so, but we have never seen the actual evidence discussed in this report. As such, the commission said it is releasing a video summary containing all relevant evidence. And it seems likely that the beginning of the hearing included so many previously-seen clips of testimony from previous hearings that it was a synopsis for the previous season of the series on Netflix. There is evidence that viewers were moved. Before the hearings, just 48% of independents in an NPR/PBS poll thought Trump was "very" or "heavily" responsible for what happened that day. After multiple hearings, a July poll showed that the percentage of people who blamed Trump rose to 57%. Republicans' approval ratings rose only marginally, with fewer than one in five saying Trump was to blame. Eighty percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents said they paid "a lot" or "a little" attention to hearings. But 56% of Republicans said otherwise. It's not hard to draw a clear line between the number of people paying attention and movement (or lack thereof) in this study.
5. The ball is in the Department of Justice and the public. Progressives are frustrated by Attorney General Merrick Garland's methodical (read: slow) pace in pursuing indictments against Trump. But whether to indict or what it is, is up to the special counsel. Investigators pay close attention to the details of their findings, but they are not required to follow the Commission's recommendations of 6 January. However, the DOJ tends to remain fairly quiet, if not completely silent, about the details of ongoing investigations until they present them in court, so don't expect to hear much about the special counsel's progress. Please Politically, voters will decide. Trump is likely to maintain his support for the bases. As we noted, Republicans pay little attention to these hearings. In a multi-candidate primary, Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination. But he's faced legal troubles in several states, not just federal states, and many of his backing candidates (and draft dodgers) have lost in battleground states. Blame it on the turmoil that often surrounds him, the threat he poses to US democracy and confidence in its elections or his branding in the highly competitive states that Republicans will likely have to win to take the White House. Congress is not a winner, whether it is or not. Trump is in his most vulnerable position since he was elected president six years ago. And while some members of that committee won't return to Congress because of the anger, or potential anger, of the Trump base, they certainly hope voters will respond. The future of our democracy is in your hands, Thompson said. "It's up to the public to decide who deserves the public's trust."
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