Former President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an election night party at Mar-a-Lago. Photo / AP
Donald Trump said “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” after the US congressional committee investigating the 2021 US Capitol riot recommended that he should face four criminal charges, including insurrection.
“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
“Americans know that I pushed for 20,000 troops to prevent violence on Jan 6, and that I went on television and told everyone to go home.”
Following an 18-month inquiry, the Jan 6 Committee also recommended to the US Justice Department charges against Trump of obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the US, and conspiracy to make a false statement.
It was an unprecedented development, with Congress having never before made a criminal referral against a current or former president.
It was largely symbolic as the committee has no power to pursue criminal charges, and decisions on doing so will be taken by the US Department of Justice.
Following the criminal referral, Trump accused House lawmakers of recommending “fake charges” against him as part of an attempt to prevent him from running for the White House again.
“The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax #2,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I WON convincingly.”
“This whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was - a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party.”
The announcement was expected to be a further blow to Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
If he was ultimately charged and convicted, it could lead to a prison sentence and a ban from holding public office.
In October, the committee subpoenaed the former president to give evidence, but he challenged that in the courts and did not appear.
On Jan 6, 2021, a mob beat their way past police, injuring many officers, and stormed the US Capitol, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
It came after Trump spread unfounded allegations about widespread election fraud.
The committee showed previously unseen evidence of an interview with Hope Hicks, Trump’s former White House communications director.
Hicks said she told Trump, after the election, that he was “damaging his legacy” with claims of fraud.
She said Trump told her: “Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning.”
The committee’s decision followed interviews with more than 1000 witnesses and a series of explosive public hearings.
Jamie Raskin, a Democrat committee member, said: “An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the United States. It is a grave federal offence anchored in the Constitution itself.
“The committee has developed significant evidence that President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of power under our Constitution.”
He said to be guilty Trump would need to have “assisted” or given “aid and comfort” to an insurrection.
The committee consisted of seven Democrat members of Congress and two anti-Trump Republicans. It voted unanimously to recommend charges.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the committee as a political witch hunt and called its members “Democrats, misfits and thugs”.
Bennie Thompson, the Democrat committee chairman, said Trump had carried out a “multi-part scheme” to overturn the election.
He said: “He summoned the mob to Washington and, knowing they were armed and angry, pointed them to the Capitol and told them to ‘fight like hell’. There is no doubt about this.
“We are in uncharted waters. We’ve never had a president stir up an attempt to block the transfer of power. If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy this can never happen again.”
Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairman of the committee, said: “This was an utter moral failure and dereliction of duty. He is unfit for any office.
“No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again.”
According to US authorities, 140 officers were assaulted during the riot. More than 800 people have been charged with crimes ranging from trespassing and assaulting police, to seditious conspiracy.