Schiff: Any Trump criminal referral should be unanimous from Jan. 6 panel

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, said that a criminal referral for former President Trump should be unanimous from the panel.  

“We operate with a high degree of consensus and unanimity,” Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 

“It will be, certainly, I think, my recommendation, my feeling, that we should make referrals. But we will get to a decision as a committee, and we will all abide by that decision, and I will join our committee members if they feel differently.” 

The committee, which has been conducting an investigation into Jan. 6 and Trump’s actions surrounding the incident for more than a year, doesn’t have the power to prosecute — and members of the committee have long been pushing for the Justice Department to criminally investigate the former president. 

Schiff on Sunday called the DOJ’s separate probe into Jan. 6 “very slow” and said there are “areas the Justice Department hasn’t fully investigated.” 

The committee is considering a criminal referral to the DOJ based on the collected evidence against the former president. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), one of just two Republicans on the panel, reportedly said at the Texas Tribune Festival Saturday that she also thinks the committee’s decision should be unanimous.

“I do agree … there have been several laws broken. And it is, I think, apparent that there is evidence that Donald Trump was involved in breaking several of those laws,” Schiff said Sunday. 

“I think, when Congress does find evidence that people have broken the law, not — it is not always the case that it makes a referral, but, in circumstances like these, I think that’s the better part of the argument.”