The Jan. 6 committee released its final
800-plus-page report on Thursday, calling former President Donald Trump the "central cause" of the attack on the Capitol.
Legal experts noted that in addition to four criminal referrals, the committee's report may open up other legal liabilities for Trump, including potential liability in Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the former president's allies.
New York University Law Professor Ryan Goodman pointed out that the report "opens doors wide for Dominion Voting Systems to sue former president Trump for defamation," and that there are "hundreds of millions of [dollars] potentially at stake."
Goodman, who has previously written on the topic, explained that "almost every expert said a defamation suit brought by Dominion against Trump would be very strong." He also noted that Dominion has done very well in other defamation cases against other Trump associates.
"Never understood why Trump was not included in this suit," agreed former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team. "It's been brilliant so far and has caused Rudy and Sidney to clam up."
CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen wrote on Twitter that of the biggest surprises in the report, one is "how many OTHER forms of legal liability besides criminal report drives against Trump and his co-conspirators."
Experts also predict potential liabilities for other Trump associates, including the former president's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. "He's going down for this," Weissmann predicted.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted in June that "all lawyers involved in the plot to stop the transfer of power as part of the 1/6 conspiracy must be disbarred." Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe on Friday wrote that he "couldn't agree more."
"From Eastman and Chesebro to Giuliani and Powell and at least a half dozen others, those so-called attorneys disgrace the law and endanger democracy," Tribe wrote. "None should evade disbarment. Some should face prison terms."
Watergate lawyer Nick Akerman
told CNN that from what he read of the Jan. 6 report, the evidence "proves that Donald Trump is guilty of these crimes, beyond a reasonable doubt."