Dec 11, 2022 - Politics & Policy

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

Ivana Saric

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.

The Jan. 6 committee plans to release its final report on Dec. 21.

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

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