The congressional committee examining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its first round of public hearings this week and the Justice Department faces rising pressure to prosecute former President Donald Trump in connection with the bloody assault. But it remains unclear whether the department will take the unprecedented step of charging a former president based on the findings of a committee.

"We don't know whether there will be prosecutions that are going to be a direct result of these hearings," says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. 

And even those who think the Jan. 6 committee's findings warrant criminal charges against Trump caution that the panel’s discovery represents one side of the story. "The congressional hearing is one-sided in the sense that there was no one to cross-examine any of these witnesses or to seek to check the veracity of their sources and the like," Banks says.

Read more in the VOA News article, "Will Trump Be Prosecuted Over Role in January 6 Attack?"