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Trump should never hold office again

US insurrection report


Published : 24 Dec 2022 10:19 PM | Updated : 25 Dec 2022 06:02 PM

Donald Trump should never be allowed to run for public office again after inciting an insurrection, lawmakers investigating last year's assault on the US Capitol concluded in their watershed final report.

The recommendation led a list of proposals from the 845-page document aimed  at ensuring there is no repeat of the deadly riot the ex-president is accused  of orchestrating in a failed bid to cling to power after losing the 2020  election.  

"Our country has come too far to allow a defeated president to turn himself  into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions (and)  fomenting violence," the panel's chairman Bennie Thompson said in an  introduction to the report, released late Thursday.

The document urges lawmakers to legislate so that Trump and others who  "engaged in insurrection" can be barred from holding office -- "whether federal  or state, civilian or military."

It was the culmination of 18 months of work by congressional investigators  who interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses to establish the primary cause of the  attack, which they blamed squarely on the Republican billionaire.

The committee also recommended reforms of election law, a federal crackdown  on extremist groups and the designation of Congress's certification of  presidential elections as a "national special security event" on a par with the  annual State of the Union address.

It was the panel's final act before it is disbanded as the House of  Representatives switches to Republican control in January. 

The party has opposed the investigation at every step and the switch in the  balance of power raises doubts over the possibility of most of the  recommendations ever being taken up. Trump posted a statement on his Truth Social platform misrepresenting the 

role of Democratic leadership in security preparations ahead of the attack, and 

decrying a "witch hunt," as he does with most investigations accusing him of 

misconduct. 

The report was long on detail but short on new revelations as the committee 

had already set out its case against Trump over eight blockbuster public 

hearings in the summer.

Its seven Democrats and two rebel Republicans allege that Trump "oversaw 

and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential 

election and prevent the transfer of presidential power."

The panel has begun turning over evidence to independent prosecutor Jack 

Smith, who is overseeing federal probes into Trump's role in the riot and his 

handling of government secrets improperly stored at his Florida beach club.

"If the evidence is as we presented it, I'm convinced the Justice 

Department will charge former President Trump," committee chairman Thompson 

told CNN ahead of the report's release.

The twice-impeached 76-year-old Trump is also facing criminal and civil 

investigations into his business practices and efforts to overturn his election 

defeat in the swing state of Georgia.

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