Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Sunday that he believes the Justice Department will charge former President Donald Trump after the House Jan. 6 committee concluded its investigation detailing his pressure campaign to overturn the election.
“If this is not a crime, I don’t know what is. If a president can incite an insurrection and not be held accountable, then really there’s no limit to what a president can do or can’t do,” Kinzinger, a member of the committee, said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I think the Justice Department will do the right thing. I think he will be charged, and I frankly think he should be,” he continued, pointing to the findings of the committee’s formal report from its 18-month investigation into the deadly Capitol riot in 2021.
Kinzinger said he believes Trump should be charged and convicted based on the evidence the committee uncovered.
“If he is not guilty of a crime, then I frankly fear for the future of this country, because now every future president of this country can say here’s the bar — do everything you can to stay in power,” he said.
Kinzinger, who decided against seeking re-election, was one of two GOP lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee. The panel is set to dissolve when Republicans take over the House in the new Congress.
The committee released its final report, spanning more than 800 pages, late last month after a final public meeting when all nine members voted to recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against Trump as he makes another bid for the White House in 2024.
The full report details the committee’s arguments that largely blame Trump and his false claims of widespread election fraud for the Jan. 6 attack.
Trump has repeatedly accused the committee of being driven by partisan politics. At the time of the criminal referrals, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded by repeating a statement the campaign has used previously, calling the panel a “Kangaroo court” that “held show trials by Never Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history.”
