January 6 committee refers Donald Trump to Justice Department on four criminal charges


Kyle Fitzgerald
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The US House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection voted on Monday to recommend four criminal charges against former president Donald Trump for his central role in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

In an unprecedented move, the nine-member panel urged the Department of Justice to prosecute Mr Trump for incitement of insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy to make a false statement.

Mr Trump did not immediately issue any public reaction.

No one associated with the attack on the Capitol has previously faced the charge of insurrection, and it is the first time in US history that Congress has formally referred a former president for prosecution.

“We understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy that we described in our report,” panel member Congressman Jamie Raskin said when introducing the referrals.

Calling him “unfit for any office”, the panel's vice chairwoman Liz Cheney accused the former president of failing to perform his duty when his supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory.

“No man who would behave that way, at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again,” she said.

Shortly after the public meeting concluded, the committee published an executive summary introducing its full report ahead of an expected release on Wednesday.

The Justice Department is not obligated to abide by the committee's referrals. Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing federal investigations into Mr Trump.

"The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day. Beyond that, I don't have any immediate observations," Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said:

Mr Trump's former vice president Mike Pence told Fox News that an indictment by the Justice Department would be "terribly divisive in a country at a time when the American people want to see us heal".

"And my hope is the Justice Department will think very carefully," Mr Pence said.

The committee has also referred John Eastman, a lawyer for Mr Trump who supported his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, to be criminally prosecuted.

It also referred several members of Congress to be sanctioned by the House Ethics Committee for defying the panel's subpoenas: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and representatives Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs.

Mr Trump's actions leading up to the events of January 6 have been at the heart of the committee's work since last year.

The committee has accused Mr Trump of being central to a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Democratic challenger Mr Biden by seven million votes.

It says that Mr Trump for months ignored advice from White House officials and instead pursued baseless claims that the election was stolen from him through a nationwide Democratic conspiracy.

Mr Trump defied a subpoena to testify in front of the committee and has repeatedly attacked the integrity of the panel.

Hearings this year featured live testimony from dozens of officials including a White House aide and election officials who said they had been pressured by the Trump administration.

Monday's meeting aired testimony for the first time from Hope Hicks, who served as Mr Trump's communications director.

Ms Hicks recalled a conversation she had with Mr Trump in which the former president suggested no one would care about his legacy if he lost the election.

“The only thing that matters is winning,” she recalled him saying.

The actions undertaken by the committee cap more than a year-long effort that included the testimony of thousands of witnesses and millions of documents.

The panel was under pressure to complete its work before Republicans take control of the House next year. They are expected to launch their own enquiries into January 6, seeking to blame the events of the day on law enforcement shortcomings.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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Name: The Protein Bakeshop

Date of start: 2013

Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani

Based: Dubai

Size, number of employees: 12

Funding/investors:  $400,000 (2018) 

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

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Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

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Country-size land deals

US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:

Louisiana Purchase

If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.

Florida Purchase Treaty

The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty. 

Alaska purchase

America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of  Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".

The Philippines

At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million. 

US Virgin Islands

It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.

Gwadar

The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees. 

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

THE CLOWN OF GAZA

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Du Plessis plans his retirement

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said on Friday the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in two years' time will be his last.

Du Plessis, 34, who has led his country in two World T20 campaigns, in 2014 and 2016, is keen to play a third but will then step aside.

"The T20 World Cup in 2020 is something I'm really looking forward to. I think right now that will probably be the last tournament for me," he said in Brisbane ahead of a one-off T20 against Australia on Saturday. 

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The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip 
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles. 

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Updated: December 23, 2022, 4:26 AM`