The congressional committee investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump could make multiple referrals to the Justice Department to seek criminal charges against the former president, its vice chair Liz Cheney said. Cheney, in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” also said the department does not need to wait for the House Select Committee to make a formal recommendation on charges to take action against Trump. Asked whether the committee’s hearings proved that Trump should be prosecuted, Cheney said: “Ultimately, the Department of Justice will decide that.” Cheney, one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led panel, said “we will make a decision as a committee” on whether to make a formal criminal referral to the Justice Department, recommending charges against Trump. “The Department of Justice does not need to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral. There could be more than one sentencing referral,” Cheney said. No criminal charges have ever been brought against a sitting or former US president. Asked what it would mean for the country if President Joe Biden’s Justice Department brought charges against his predecessor, Cheney said: “I’m more concerned about what it would mean if people weren’t held accountable for what happened here.” Cheney criticized Trump’s behavior before, during and after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2001 in their failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory, including an inflammatory speech immediately before the rebellion. “I think it’s a much more serious constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities and, you know, the majority of the president’s party looks the other way — or we as a country decide, you know, we’re not going to take our constitutional obligations seriously.” , Cheney said. “And if you think about it from the perspective of what kind of person knows that a mob is armed and sends the mob to attack the Capitol and further incites that mob when his vice president is threatened, when Congress is threatened,” Cheney added. Cheney, whose father Dick Cheney served as vice president from 2001 to 2009, also said she has not yet decided on a possible run for president in 2024, even though she faces a Republican primary challenge in her run for office this year. Her Parliament. seat representing Wyoming. Trump has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election in 2024. “A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can never be anywhere near the Oval Office again,” Cheney said. A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Trump denied responsibility for the attack on Capitol Hill, but said he would pardon those involved if he became president again. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gave bombshell testimony to the panel last week about Trump’s behavior on the day of the riot. Hutchinson testified that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential limousine when his security detail refused to take him to the Capitol to join supporters. He also said Trump dismissed concerns that some of his supporters gathered for his pre-riot speech were carrying AR-15-style rifles, instead asking security to stop screening attendees with metal-detecting magnetometers so the crowd to appear larger. Additional witnesses have come forward since Hutchinson testified, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the committee, said Sunday. “There will be a lot more information,” Kinzinger told CNN state of the union program. “Stay tuned.” The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
