Democrats on the House Jan. 6 committee pushed back Sunday against the notion that any criminal referrals by the panel to the Department of Justice would simply be “symbolic” and for political purposes.
As the committee prepares to publish on Dec. 21 its final report about last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, members are weighing who to recommend that the DOJ investigate and prosecute for potential crimes.
Legal scholars have noted that any criminal referrals would be non-binding and come as the DOJ already has been investigating the matter for more than a year.
“It’s largely symbolic because at the time we first started having this debate about a referral, it wasn’t clear how far along the Justice Department was,” former U.