Trump must not be above the law

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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The Jan. 6 House committee has concluded its 18-month investigation, appropriately, by unanimously recommending that the Justice Department charge former President Donald Trump for inciting insurrection; conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government; obstructing an official act of Congress, and conspiracy to make a false statement.

The move is without precedent in U.S. history. But it was made necessary by a president who, from the moment he was elected, was convinced that the law and rules did not apply to him and stubbornly clung to power even after his defeat. Trump's legacy is now in tatters, tarnished beyond redemption by his actions. It is now imperative that he and his co-conspirators be brought to justice.

Mike Pence, who served as Trump's vice president, said earlier this week that the Justice Department should think twice before indicting the boss who took no action for hours as a raging mob invaded the Capitol and called for Pence to be hanged. "I think it would be terribly divisive in the country at a time when the American people want to see us heal," Pence said.

Pence could not be more wrong. What is stopping this country from healing — nearly two full years after the insurrection intended to prevent the peaceful transfer of power — is the Big Lie, birthed and fomented by Trump, that the election was somehow "stolen" from him. He has never provided a scintilla of evidence that would stand up in court, and his lie has been proven false multiple times. Yet for two years, he has obsessively built upon it until it became a Republican chimera.

The only remedy is the process we are witnessing now, as painfully slow as it may be. The meticulous accumulation of documents, evidence and testimony — including interviews with more than 1,000 witnesses — is what allowed the committee to confidently state that Trump should face prosecution for his actions. "There is no doubt about this," concluded Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who said the referrals and accompanying evidence would provide a "roadmap to justice."

There has been much debate about whether the committee should even make referrals. It has been noted, accurately, that the referrals carry no extra legal weight, nor do they place any additional responsibility on the Justice Department to act. They are a symbolic gesture, but a powerful and necessary one.

Even if the department decides to pursue charges, the road ahead will be long. The government will have to prove its case in prosecuting the former president, and Trump must have the opportunity to defend himself. Whether he is convicted or found not guilty will be for the courts to determine. That is our system.

But imagine the alternative. If the Justice Department declines to take action, Trump again is allowed to skate past any consequences for his actions, as he has for much of his adult life. In his mind, he receives the ultimate validation that he is indeed above the law and could ride the resulting wave of re-energized Trumpers to the Republican presidential nomination and beyond. What power could stop him after that?

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., whose work as vice chair on the committee has been nothing short of courageous, noted that the best way to prevent a recurrence of what can only be described as an attempted coup is by making sure we "hold those who were responsible for January 6th accountable." Cheney, whose defiance of Trump and pursuit of the truth cost her the seat she now holds in Congress, said the former president was responsible for an "utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty" and is "unfit for any office."

One service the committee performed, perhaps its most valuable, was to uncover irrefutable proof that the Jan. 6 insurrection was not a single-day event, as horrific as that one day was. Instead, as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., noted, it was "a dangerous assault on constitutional democracy" consisting of "hundreds of individual offenses" engineered by Trump and others.

"Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the ringleaders and masterminds get a pass," Raskin said.

It now falls to the Justice Department to decide whether it will follow the Jan. 6 committee's road map and issue indictments. We believe it should. In fact, it must.