January 6 panel to hold final public hearing and vote on referrals against Trump – live

As the clock ticks down to this afternoon’s final “business meeting” of the January 6 House committee, let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers. Martin Pengelly reports:

Another Kennedy is headed for Ireland. The state department said Monday that Joe Kennedy, of the storied Irish-American political family, would become US special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic affairs.

Kennedy, 42, will focus on advancing economic development in Northern Ireland and people to people ties between the citizens of the two countries, secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement, according to Reuters.

“His role builds on the longstanding US commitment to supporting peace, prosperity, and stability in Northern Ireland and the peace dividends of the Belfast Good Friday agreement,” Blinken said.

Kennedy is grandson of former attorney general Robert F Kennedy, and great-nephew to former president John F Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960s. He served eight years in the House before losing a Senate bid in Massachusetts in 2020.

His cousin Caroline Kennedy, a former ambassador to Japan and daughter of the late president, is ambassador to Australia.

Jury selection begins today in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the extremist group accused of plotting the deadly January 6 Capitol attack.

Tarrio and four of his lieutenants are heading to trial in Washington DC, the Associated Press reports, just weeks after two leaders of another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a major victory for the justice department’s extensive 6 January prosecution.

Tarrio is perhaps the highest-profile defendant to face jurors yet in the attack that delayed the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, left dozens of police injured and led to nearly 1,000 arrests.

Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs are charged with several other crimes in addition to seditious conspiracy. If convicted of sedition, they could face up to 20 years in prison.

Jury selection is likely to take several days, and the trial is expected to last at least six weeks.

More on this story:

Here’s a handy explainer from my colleague Kira Lerner about the work of the bipartisan January 6 House committee that’s been investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

From the panel’s first meeting in July 2021, through live, televised hearings this year, to its final gathering today, the nine members have focused stringently on the insurrection effort. They have interviewed more than 1,000 witness interviews, reviewed more than one million documents and viewed hundreds of hours of video.

They obtained a massive number of call records, text messages, and emails through subpoenas and also got access to White House records from the National Archives.

The committee assembled five teams to investigate different topic areas and assigned each team a color, the Guardian has previously reported. The issues ranged from efforts by Trump and his associates to pressure federal, state, and local officials to overturn the election to law enforcement and intelligence agency failures.

They also examined domestic extremist groups like QAnon, and online misinformation, those who planned the January 6 rally, the “Stop the Steal” movement and the money behind efforts to overturn the election.

Read the full story:

It’s decision day on criminal referrals for Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.

At 1pm, the bipartisan House panel that has been investigating his insurrection for 18 months will meet for the final time, and has plenty of business to conclude.

It’s expected to vote to refer the former president to the justice department for obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, among other potential charges.

We’ll also hear the panel’s summary of the wide-ranging plot to keep Trump in office, including inciting the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters; and scheming to reverse the election result using fake electors.

California Democrat Adam Schiff, a key member of the panel, said Sunday on CNN he was confident there was “sufficient evidence” to charge Trump, and several of his closest aides and advisors.

They include former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump attorney John Eastman. Also expected are civil referrals to the House ethics committee for Republican members of Congress who defied subpoenas, and a recommendation of disbarments for Trump lawyers.

As my colleague Hugo Lowell writes for the Guardian today:

.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The anticipated criminal referrals against Trump mark a remarkable moment for a precedent-shattering investigation into the former president’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat at any cost and impede the congressional certification that culminated in the Capitol attack early last year.

Please stick with us for what is certain to be a busy day. We’ll bring you developments as they happen.

While we wait for events to unfold, take a read of our preview of today’s meeting here:

Good morning blog readers, for what promises to be a momentous day in US politics.

It’s a long-awaited moment of reckoning for Donald Trump as the January 6 House panel investigating his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat meets in public for the final time, and votes to recommend referral to the justice department for criminal charges against the former president.

As we reported last week, Trump faces referral for obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the United States, among other potential charges.

But the bipartisan panel has plenty of other business to conclude when it meets at 1pm, including outlining investigative findings and legislative recommendations, voting to formally adopt its final report, then voting on referrals for Trump and several key allies and advisers.

While we’re unlikely to see the full report today, we expect an executive summary, outlining the extraordinary efforts Trump took to stay in power, including unleashing a mob of supporters on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Today we’re also watching:

• Chief of the Capitol police Thomas Manger testifies on the security of Congress members at an afternoon meeting of the Senate’s rules and administration committee.

• Joe Biden meets with Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso at lunchtime.

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 2.30pm.