WASHINGTON, Dec  23, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Donald Trump should never be allowed 
to run for public office again after inciting an insurrection, lawmakers 
investigating last year's assault on the US Capitol concluded in their 
watershed final report.
       The recommendation led a list of proposals from the 845-page document aimed 
at ensuring there is no repeat of the deadly riot the ex-president is accused 
of orchestrating in a failed bid to cling to power after losing the 2020 
election.  
       "Our country has come too far to allow a defeated president to turn himself 
into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions (and) 
fomenting violence," the panel's chairman Bennie Thompson said in an 
introduction to the report, released late Thursday.
       The document urges lawmakers to legislate so that Trump and others who 
"engaged in insurrection" can be barred from holding office -- "whether federal 
or state, civilian or military."
       It was the culmination of 18 months of work by congressional investigators 
who interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses to establish the primary cause of the 
attack, which they blamed squarely on the Republican billionaire.
       The committee also recommended reforms of election law, a federal crackdown 
on extremist groups and the designation of Congress's certification of 
presidential elections as a "national special security event" on a par with the 
annual State of the Union address.
       It was the panel's final act before it is disbanded as the House of 
Representatives switches to Republican control in January. 
       The party has opposed the investigation at every step and the switch in the 
balance of power raises doubts over the possibility of most of the 
recommendations ever being taken up.
       Trump posted a statement on his Truth Social platform misrepresenting the 
role of Democratic leadership in security preparations ahead of the attack, and 
decrying a "witch hunt," as he does with most investigations accusing him of 
misconduct. 
       The report was long on detail but short on new revelations as the committee 
had already set out its case against Trump over eight blockbuster public 
hearings in the summer.
       Its seven Democrats and two rebel Republicans allege that Trump "oversaw 
and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential 
election and prevent the transfer of presidential power."
       The panel has begun turning over evidence to independent prosecutor Jack 
Smith, who is overseeing federal probes into Trump's role in the riot and his 
handling of government secrets improperly stored at his Florida beach club.
       "If the evidence is as we presented it, I'm convinced the Justice 
Department will charge former President Trump," committee chairman Thompson 
told CNN ahead of the report's release.
       The twice-impeached 76-year-old Trump is also facing criminal and civil 
investigations into his business practices and efforts to overturn his election 
defeat in the swing state of Georgia.