Trump may have committed a crime if he knew what would happen in the Capitol riot, January 6 committee member says

• Rep. Adam Kinzinger discussed the January 6 committee's investigation in an interview on NBC.
• He described the question of what Trump knew ahead of the riot as crucial.

The House committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, is weighing whether former President Donald Trump is criminally complicit in the Capitol riot, one of its members said on Sunday.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said one of the inquiry's key questions was what Trump knew ahead of the riot.

"I think the one thing that if I could wave a magic wand and have more information on, it would certainly be what did the president know about January 6 leading up to January 6," Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the nine-person committee, said.

"And I think what's important is — it's the difference between was the president absolutely incompetent or a coward on the 6th when he didn't do anything, or did he know what was coming?

"And I think that's a difference between incompetence with your oath and possibly criminal. That's where I want to get more information. We do have obviously some things leading up to that, but the more information we can get, obviously, the better."

The commission has interviewed hundreds of witnesses and subpoenaed phone records and other documents from Trump aides.

Witnesses have said Trump watched the chaos unfold on TV for several hours without intervening.

They've said that only after the urging of his aides and allies, including Fox News' Sean Hannity and his son Donald Trump Jr., Trump told his supporters to leave.

Kinzinger's comment suggested that the committee was investigating reasons for Trump's inaction.

Rep. Liz Cheney, the other Republican on the committee, said last month that it was considering whether Trump's action constituted criminal obstruction of the congressional proceeding that day to certify Joe Biden's election victory.

Kinzinger told NBC that if the inquiry were to wrap up now it would be able to tell "a powerful and substantive narrative" of what happened, though he added that "we still have more information, obviously, we want to get."

Trump delivered an incendiary speech to supporters ahead of the riot, but in his second impeachment trial he was acquitted of charges of inciting the riot.

In recent days, Trump has stepped up his attacks on the inquiry. He's claimed in a statement that it was an attempt to smear voters and pushed a groundless conspiracy theory that the FBI instigated the violence.