Liberal Top Lawyer Alan Dershowitz Says Jan 6 Witch Hunt Committee’s Criminal Referral of Trump is “Clearly Unconstitutional”
By Amber Crawford
On Monday, the Jan. 6 House committee voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal investigation and possible prosecution. However, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz has reported that this referral violates the U.S. Constitution.
At the Jan. 6 committee’s final hearing, the panel voted unanimously on four criminal referrals against Trump, including one that would prevent him from holding office again. The charges include obstruction of an official proceeding, making a false statement to the federal government, and conspiracy to defraud the federal government.
The United States law states that “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under his title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
In explaining the panel’s reasoning for the referrals, panel member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said, “Our criminal referrals were based on the gravity of the offense, the centrality of the actors, and the evidence we had available to us. There were undoubtedly other people involved, but we were stymied by virtue of a lot o people refusing to come and testify, refusing to give us the information they had, or taking the Fifth Amendment. So, we chose to advance the names of people where we felt certain that there was abundant evidence that they had participated in crimes.”