Explained | The U.S. House Select Committee report on the January 6 Capitol attack

What are the final findings of the House panel? What charges has it accused Donald Trump of? What are its recommendations and what real impact can the report have?

The story so far:

“The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump…None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him,” concluded the U.S. House Select Committee in its final report released on Thursday, December 22, after an 18-month-long probe in which it conducted over 1,000 interviews, 10 public hearings, and collected millions of documents as part of the evidence.

The nine-member Select Committee was launched in July 2021 by the U.S. Congress for the purpose of investigating the armed attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, by far-right groups such as Proud Boys and Oathkeepers, and former President Donald Trump’s supporters, which resulted in the death of five persons, injuries to 140 police personnel, and large scale destruction of property.

Lawmakers in a Joint Session of Congress on January 6 were set to certify the electoral college vote and Joe Biden’s presidency; the session was to be presided over then Vice President Mike Pence. The 814-page final report describes through eight chapters, the “multi-part conspiracy” by Mr. Trump and his aides to “overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election”.

The report enlists 17 key findings. It notes that from the night of the election in November 2020 to the day of the attack next year, Mr. Trump, despite no evidential proof, “purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election”, alleging the race was “stolen” from him. “These false claims provoked his supporters to violence on January 6.”

The report says the former President addressed multiple public gatherings making false claims of voter fraud and raised funds amounting to a quarter of a billion dollars between the election and January 6.

By the time the electoral college met to cast and certify the votes of each State on December 14, 2020, the Justice Department (DoJ) and Homeland Security had concluded that there was no fraud, and White House officials and his own family members urged Mr. Trump to concede.