A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol held its last hearing Monday afternoon, outlining what the public can expect from its final report.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The hearing fell on the second anniversary of then-President Trump's tweet calling for supporters to come to Washington to protest his election defeat. He wrote that the protest, quote, "will be wild." That call to action was the heart of the committee's case against Trump for inciting an insurrection.
MARTÍNEZ: We're going to hear from NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, the major headline from the hearing is the committee's unanimous referral for criminal charges against Donald Trump. So outline those for us, please.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Well, the committee is alleging that Trump obstructed an official proceeding, conspired to defraud the United States, conspired to make a false statement and assisted, aided and comforted those involved in an insurrection. More than 900 people have already been charged with crimes stemming from January 6. And the FBI says some 2,000 may have been involved. But Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, one of the members of the committee, said Trump is the one who inspired the riot and should also face charges.
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JAMIE RASKIN: Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass.
MONTANARO: Remember, we're talking about inspiring a mob to storm the Capitol, pressuring elections officials around the country, participating in a scheme to submit fake electors. And all of this was to overturn the election results of an election that Trump lost fair and square. It's a remarkable thing. And it's never happened before, a former U.S. president being referred for crimes to defraud the United States. And he's running again for the job.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, much of the work of the committee is already public. But did it reveal anything new?
MONTANARO: Well, there was certainly a lot of recap. And part of that is because the committee acknowledged there just are millions of people, especially Republicans, not tuning in. But yesterday, we did hear from Hope Hicks, Trump's former White House communications adviser. We hadn't heard from her before in these hearings. And Hicks pointed out in taped testimony that she told Trump that by continuing to make these false allegations of fraud, he was potentially damaging his legacy.
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HOPE HICKS: He said something along the lines of, you know, nobody will care about my legacy if I lose. So that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning.
MONTANARO: The bottom line is that Trump had no exit ramp from losing the election. And here's someone in his inner circle - formerly inner circle - confirming that was his mindset in those days after the 2020 election.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. And the committee also referred four Republican congressmen to the House Ethics Committee. Domenico, so, I mean, what now? What impact might all of this have?
MONTANARO: Well, we'll see if the ethics committee, which is evenly split between the parties, actually pursues this. Of course, Republicans are going to be in charge of Congress next term in just a couple of weeks. You know, the four members of Congress were referred, ironically, for not complying with a congressional subpoena. They're Kevin McCarthy, the man who will be in line to be next House speaker - or wants to be. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
You know, for their part, they're dismissing the referrals as partisan. But, you know, the committee wanted to talk to them because they're close to Trump. They talked to him on or before January 6. But now any consequences for them or others involved really is in the hands of the Justice Department because at this point, the January 6 committee really is out of time. And when it comes to whether or not Trump winds up being the standard-bearer once again for the Republican Party, it's really going to come down to those Republican primary voters. And like we said, many of them just haven't been tuning in.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Domenico Montanaro, thanks a lot.
MONTANARO: You're welcome.
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