Criminal referrals are an ‘important symbolic’ move says GOP January 6 panel member as five Republican congressmen who rebuffed subpoenas could face House Ethics referral
- GOP January 6 panel member Adam Kinzinger said criminal referrals will not ‘wake DOJ up to something they didn’t know before’
- Comes as panel weighs referring five GOP lawmakers who thwarted subpoenas to the House Ethics Committee
- Panel has suggested they cannot refer their fellow lawmakers to the DOJ
- Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks did not comply with January 6 subpoenas and could face a referral
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Adam Kinzinger said Sunday that the January 6 select committee’s criminal referrals could help the Justice Department hone in on investigations – but five GOP lawmakers who thwarted the panel’s subpoenas will not be on the list of referrals.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama all did not comply with subpoenas from the January 6 panel.
The nine members of the January 6 House Select Committee have suggested that the Constitution ties their hands when it comes to DOJ criminal referrals for fellow members of Congress.
The committee can, however, refer the matter to other committees within the House, which has a process in place for addressing the behavior of its members.
GOP January 6 panel member Adam Kinzinger said criminal referrals will likely not change the Justice Department’s actions or ‘wake DOJ up to something they didn’t know before’
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland leads the panel’s subcommittee tasked with responding to the five members.
‘The Speech or Debate Clause makes it clear that Congress doesn’t hold members of Congress accountable in the judiciary or other places in the government,’ Raskin said. ‘Members of Congress are only held accountable through Article One in their own chambers for their actions.’
It appears that the panel plans to deal with lawmakers who have ignored their subpoenas since May by referring the issue to the House Ethics Committee.
Panel Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said that the panel will make criminal referrals to the DOJ for those who are not in Congress.
‘The criminal referrals themselves aren’t necessarily something that is going to wake DOJ up to something they didn’t know before,’ Kinzinger told ABc This Week host Martha Raddatz on Sunday. ‘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 a crime has been committed here and the DOJ should investigate it.’
‘Only a few weeks away. But look, we’ve taken his job very seriously and we think the country is going to be far better off for the work we were able to do,’ he added.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is among five Republican lawmakers who thwarted subpoenas from the January 6 panel since May
Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the select committee probing the origins of the January 6 Capitol attack. He is joined by Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney – both are among the GOP lawmakers who voted for Donald Trump’s second impeachment.
Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, did not run for reelection in the 2022 midterms, while Cheney, who was booted from her No. 3 spot earlier this year, lost her primary against Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman in Wyoming.
The January 6 panel is preparing to wrap as its likely to be disbanded once Republicans take a majority in the House next month.
The Ethics Committee, which could end up looking into the five lawmakers flouted January 6 subpoenas, will also be taken over by Republicans when the 118th Congress is sworn in.
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