Donald Trump: US lawmakers consider 'insurrection' charges against former president

US lawmakers investigating the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol are considering recommending the Justice Department pursue an unprecedented criminal charge of insurrection and two other counts against former President Donald Trump.

Besides insurrection -- an uprising aiming to overthrow the government -- the panel is also considering recommending prosecutors pursue charges for obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to a person familiar with the matter who could not publicly discuss the private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The committee’s deliberations continued late on Friday evening, and no decisions were formalised on which specific charges the committee would refer to the Justice Department.

The panel is to meet publicly Monday afternoon when any recommendation will be made public.

A second person familiar with the deliberations, who also could not publicly discuss details of the private deliberations, confirmed the committee was considering three charges. The panel's lawyers argued, according to that person, that those three criminal statutes were the strongest cases to make.

The decision to issue referrals is not unexpected. Liz Cheney, a Republican representative from Wyoming who is the vice chair of the committee, has been hinting for months at sending the Justice Department criminal referrals based on the extensive evidence the nine-member panel has gathered since it was formed in July 2021.

“You may not send an armed mob to the Capitol; you may not sit for 187 minutes and refuse to stop the attack while it’s underway. You may not send out a tweet that incites further violence,” Cheney said about Trump on NBC's ”Meet the Press" in October.