Donald Trump accused of 'multi-part conspiracy' over January 6 uprising to overturn 2020 presidential election
23 December 2022, 08:49 | Updated: 23 December 2022, 08:51
Donald Trump has been accused of leading a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
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The claim comes at the end of an 18-month investigation into the former president's role in the January 6 insurrection nearly two years ago.
The January 6 committee's 814-page report also recommends that Mr Trump be barred from seeking public office again - just weeks after he announced he would run for president in 2024.
Mr Trump did not cooperate with the investigation and denounced the report as a "witch-hunt".
The mob of Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 were seeking to stop Congress from counting electoral college votes and formalising the victory of Joe Biden. Five people died in incidents connected to the attacks.
The investigators interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held 10 hearings and obtained millions of pages of documents, concluding that the insurrection gravely threatened democracy and "put the lives of American lawmakers at risk".
In a foreword to the report, outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the findings should be a "clarion call to all Americans: to vigilantly guard our Democracy and to give our vote only to those dutiful in their defence of our Constitution."
The panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, describe the pressure Mr Trump put on states, federal officials, politicians and former vice president Mike Pence to game the system or break the law after the November 2020 election.
In the two months between the election and the insurrection, the report says: "President Trump or his inner circle engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation, targeting either State legislators or State or local election administrators, to overturn State election results."
Mr Trump's repeated, false claims of widespread voter fraud resonated with his supporters, the committee said, and were amplified on social media, building on the distrust of government he had fostered for his four years in office.
And he did little to stop them when they resorted to violence and stormed the Capitol.
Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO ahead of January 6 riots
It comes after the same investigators recommended that Mr Trump should face criminal charges over the riot.
The committee made four referrals to the Department of Justice, which include inciting or assisting an insurrection, defrauding the US government and obstructing an official proceeding.
Democrat Jamie Raskin said the investigation found evidence on Mr Trump that supports "a lot more than incitement".
January 6 was 'rehearsal' for political instability in America
Speaking of Mr Trump's behaviour on the day of the riots, vice chairwoman Liz Cheney said: "In addition to being unlawful… this was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty.
"Evidence of this can be seen in the testimony of President Trump's own White House counsel and several other White House witnesses.
"No man who would behave that way, at that moment in time, can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office."
Ms Cheney said the committee's work was just an "initial step" in addressing Mr Trump's "efforts to remain in office illegally".
