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Dec 11, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Kinzinger: Jan. 6 panel's criminal referrals could signal DOJ to investigate

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If the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol riot chooses to issue criminal referrals, it could be a signal to the Department of Justice to focus their federal investigation on certain alleged crimes, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

Driving the news: The panel's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told reporters last week that the committee was still working to decide who might be referred and for what alleged crimes.

What they're saying: "What you will see with this report and everything included is a fulsome picture," Kinzinger said, adding that "this is all about telling the American people about what happened."

  • "It's very clear that DOJ has decided to take this effort up," he added, referring to the Department of Justice.
  • "The criminal referrals themselves aren’t necessarily something that is going to wake [the] DOJ up to something they didn't know before," he said.
  • "But I do think it will be an important symbolic thing that the committee can do — or even more than symbolic, just very clear that Congress thinks, you know, a crime has been committed here and the DOJ should investigate it."
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