Plans for recommendations and criminal referrals from the Senate select panel related to the Capitol attack and the Counting of the Electoral College votes
A final meeting by the House select panel could be scheduled on Monday to vote on its plans for issuing recommendations and criminal referrals related to the Capitol attack.
The final report of the panel was to be released on Wednesday, Thompson said last week. Now, the panel could follow its public Monday meeting with the release of the report two days later on Dec. 21st instead, Thompson said.
It seems we can complete our work a little bit before the deadline. Why not make it available to the public as soon as possible? Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters on Tuesday from the Capitol steps.
The plans come as a subcommittee of the larger panel’s four lawyers — Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Zoe Lofgren and Adam Schiff of California and Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming — met with the full panel several times this month to present their findings on referrals and other recommendations.
The panel is likely to consider Donald Trump when making criminal referrals. Such a referral would come in the form of a letter from Thompson to the Justice Department making its case for the move.
In March of this year, the committee accused Trump of obstructing an official proceeding, the counting of the Electoral College votes. The committee added that Trump “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/14/1142610715/criminal-referrals-could-be-announced-sooner-than-expected-by-the-jan-6-panel
Investigating the 2020 Election Plot: Report on the Investigating Committee’s Investigation of a Criminal, House Ethics and Disseminativity Complaint
Ultimately, Thompson hinted the panel’s various referrals could fall into five or six categories, including criminal, House Ethics Committee complaints and referrals for discipline of attorneys through legal bar associations. Evidence new to the public could be included in the referrals and recommendations.
For example, it’s possible the panel could consider ethics complaints for the five House Republicans who defied their subpoenas — including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. Thompson defended the possibility of issuing referrals for ethics complaints for members at the end of a congressional session.
The committee’s investigation has uncovered several attorneys connected to the 2020 presidential election plot, including lawyer John Eastman who pushed for the results to be overturned. Thompson said he wasn’t ready to rule anyone out.
“Any officer of the court that disrespects the ethics of a proceeding must be reviewed as part of the committee’s discussions,” Thompson told NPR earlier this month. “But as a person who would consider a lawyer to have the highest possible ethical standards, I would have real issue with them not respecting those standards.”
Thompson has previously told NPR the final report could be about eight chapters long and 1,000 pages in length. By year end, the committee also plans to share transcripts from the more than 1,000 witnesses it interviewed.
The Speakership Race Is Not a Problem: Staffers Cannot Get Their Briefings Without a Security Clearance Before They Are Sworn In
Because they cannot get a security clearance before they are sworn in, the House members are not kept informed of national security developments. But at its most extreme, the impasse also means that the current Congress is not in a position to either authorize or stop a war, staffers and experts told CNN.
I have a seat on the Intelligence Committee. A Republican Representative from Wisconsin stated that he couldn’t meet in theSensitive Compartmented Information Facility to conduct important business because he is on theArmed Services Committee. He added that he was denied entry to a meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley because he does not yet have a security clearance.
Fitzpatrick, who is on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he is concerned about the national security implications of the partial governmentShut down as McCarthy failed to win a seventh vote.
It is bad. Fitzpatrick said it was really bad. “I don’t have access to the SCIF right now, because I’m not sworn in. I can’t get my China briefing, my Ukraine briefing, my Iran briefing.”
If the State Department wants to officially inform the House Foreign Affairs Committee of a foreign military sale, there is not a committee yet to receive it.
The White House told agencies and departments earlier this week that the administration would work with Congress as usual, and there have been some informal briefings for still-cleared staffers despite the speakership race being unresolved. In a strange twist, however, if the information is classified, those staffers cannot then brief their bosses on the intelligence since they don’t yet have a security clearance.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/politics/speaker-congress-national-security/index.html
On the status of the House of Representatives deciding the fate of the war powers act and the role of the United States in the world: a foreign diplomat’s opinion
“Honest to God this is what we wrote yesterday” in a cable to their capital, the diplomat said. They said they have an agreement with their capital on that assessment.
This diplomat is concerned because they believe it will affect how the House handles pressing issues around the world, and the United States relations with its global partners.
Another foreign diplomat said they “are just waiting to see what happens,” noting that “this is an exceptional situation but the US is not the only Western country with political deadlocks.”
The diplomat, who did not wish to be identified, toldCNN that he looked at policy concessions McCarthy has to make, and if they would affect the US role in the world.
The War Powers Act requires that the president inform Congress within 48 hours if he is going to enter US forces into hostilities. But as it stands now, Congress would not be in a position to either immediately stop or authorize that use of force. “That is something that the Congress can not determine its current state,” Lord said.
This person believes that until the committee chair elections happen, nothing can happen. “Then, after that, they select members for committees and subcommittee chairs. Only after that. can anything substantive – like hearings, legislation or member-level briefings – happen. Otherwise it is all still on hold. Soon, it will be a national security issue. Committees like Armed Services and Intelligence are also affected, and it is concerning to us all.”
Some believe the concerns are overblown – at least for now. Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is now a CNN senior political commentator, told “CNN This Morning” that while the situation is “serious,” he does not believe that “a few days of not finding a speaker is really the end of the world.”
The situation is hugely problematic because the current form of the House is only one reason to elect a Speaker and includes things like coming in and getting briefings. A few days we can handle. We can handle a few weeks. This thing would have dangerous impacts if it goes on.