The Jan. 6 committee released its final report and voted unanimously to refer Donald Trump to the DOJ for charges on four specific issues. As the Washington Post points out, this is a symbolic gesture which likely won’t have much impact on whatever conclusions the DOJ reaches in its own ongoing investigation.

The committee recommended that prosecutors pursue four charges against Trump: obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, inciting or assisting an insurrection, and conspiracy to make a false statement.

The Justice Department already has an active investigation of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 vote and his alleged mishandling of government documents. While criminal referrals from the committee hold no legal weight, they set a notable precedent: Congress has never before referred a sitting or former president for prosecution.

Whether or not Trump is ultimately charged, the action appeared intended to add an exclamation point to the committee’s efforts to prove that he should be disqualified from holding future office.

Hope Hicks featured in the final gathering of the committee. Her name is currently trending on Twitter because of video of her testimony which was shown today. She said that Trump told her his legacy didn’t matter, only winning.

Hope Hicks: "I was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging his legacy."

Q: "What did the president say in response to what you just described?"

Hicks: "Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose. So, that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning." pic.twitter.com/sfJQz8yUvx

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2022

Another thing making news today is the haul of weapons confiscated from people by the Secret Service:

The report also offers new details about the weapons stockpile that had been amassed by those who attended Trump’s speech on the Ellipse before the riot.

It cites a previously unseen November 2021 document produced by U.S. Capitol Police and provided to the committee: “Secret Service confiscated a haul of weapons from the 28,000 spectators who did pass through the magnetometers: 242 canisters of pepper spray, 269 knives or blades, 18 brass knuckles, 18 tasers, 6 pieces of body armor, 3 gas masks, 30 batons or blunt instruments, and 17 miscellaneous items like scissors, needles, or screwdrivers.”

“And thousands of others purposely remained outside the magnetometers, or left their packs outside,” the report adds.

I’m not sure what they mean by “canisters of pepper spray.” Are they talking about bear spray which people brought to use on police or are they talking about pepper spray on a key ring or in a purse that many women carry? I have the same question about the knives. Are we talking about switchblades, bayonets or just folding pocket knives of the type (under 3″ in lengthy) that it is legal to carry in Washington, DC. Again, the fact that less than 1% of people had a pocketknife doesn’t strike me as a big deal absent some further evidence they brought them to cause trouble.

That said, obviously the brass knuckles, tasers and gas masks are sketchy as are the batons and screwdrivers. I don’t know anyone who carries a screwdriver around unless they are working. But here we’re talking about a very small percentage of people who brought something like that, i.e. 18 out of 28,000.

Trump himself was out trashing the committee today before it met.

Mr. Trump attacked the committee as “highly partisan” ahead of a final meeting the panel held on Monday to release an executive summary of its final report on the Capitol attack and to vote on referring the former president to the Justice Department.

“It’s a kangaroo court,” Mr. Trump said Monday on “The Dan Bongino Show.” “The people aren’t going to stand for it.” He elaborated on that theme in a post on Truth Social, his social media network, after the meeting.

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me,” he said, adding that he “told everyone to go home” on Jan. 6, but leaving out his hours of inaction before that while a mob of his supporters rampaged through the Capitol.

The final report will be release Wednesday. Today the committee released a 154-page executive summary which you can read here. Politico reports that the DOJ probably won’t care about the referral but it may care about some of the information in the final report.

The historic criminal referral the House Jan. 6 committee issued urging the Justice Department to pursue charges against President Donald Trump is unlikely to sway many minds among prosecutors already pursuing multiple investigations, former DOJ officials said.

Prosecutors are more interested in the thousands of pages of witness statements and other records gathered by the House panel over the past 15 months, current and former officials said.

“I’m sure the Attorney General will welcome any new evidence the committee sends over, but the authority to indict rests with the executive branch, not Congress,” said University of Baltimore Law School Dean Ronald Weich, a former DOJ liaison to Congress. “The decision of whether to bring criminal charges is solely within the purview of the Justice Department. I expect DOJ to respond courteously to the committee, but the referral will not change the outcome.”

Finally, here’s an ABC News report on today’s events.