Democratic Jewish Outreach PA (DJOP) today said the House January 6th Committee’s unanimous vote to send criminal referrals on Donald Trump and his alleged coconspirators to the U.S. Department of Justice “is necessary to protect our democracy and rule of law.”
Jill Zipin, DJOP Chair, said:
“Without question the referrals are justified and supported by the exhaustive work of the bipartisan committee.
“The Committee’s 18 months of investigation showed repeatedly that anyone who thinks Jan. 6, 2021 was a typical day of tourism on Capitol Hill or a simple expression of politics is trapped in a fantasy world. In fact, Jan. 6 was a violent assault on our democracy, and anyone who cares about our country should be concerned about the idea that the former President and his colleagues should be above the law of our land.”
Zipin said that elected officials “who live in their fantasy world, including Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R), should be held to account for ignoring lawful Congressional subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6th Committee.” Scott was one of four members of Congress referred today to the House Ethics Committee for not cooperating with the Jan. 6th Committee.
Zipin added that the members of DJOP’s Board of Directors “continue to be deeply saddened that so many Republicans appear not to care about the violent Jan. 6th assault on our democracy. She said, “It makes a mockery of their alleged commitment to law and order.”
Today’s criminal referrals by the Jan. 6 Committee have no legal weight. They are recommendations to the Justice Department, which can determine whether to act on them. The referrals say Trump and his advisors took part in obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to make false statements, and that they acting to incite, assist, aid and comfort the violent insurrectionists who attacked police, battled their way into the Capitol and disrupted the certification of the November 2020 election results.