The US Congressional panel investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol has accused former President Donald Trump of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn his election defeat three months earlier.
The panel has released its final 845-page report on the attack. It places the blame for the 6 January 2021 storming of Congress squarely on the former president. It also recommends barring Mr Trump from public office in the future.
Trump did not cooperate with the panel and declared the final report a “witch hunt” after its release.
Over 18 months, the committee held 10 public hearings and interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including Trump administration officials and staff, Trump family members, Capitol police officers, rioters, militia members, and more.
On Monday, the panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans recommended the justice department investigate Mr Trump – who is mounting another White House campaign – for aiding an insurrection and three other federal crimes.
The Democratic chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, wrote in a foreword to the eight-chapter report that it was once unimaginable that the president of the United States would incite a mob to march on the Capitol.