Ministry of Justice delays investigation plan Donald Trump and his associates linked to January 6 and attempted to overturn the 2020 election, according to a shocking investigative report by washington articles.
It took almost a year after the Capitol attack for the DOJ to start investigating, and the FBI only opened an investigation into the voter conspiracy in April 2022.
The parcel attributed the DOJ’s slow move to “a wary of being partisan, institutional prudence, and a conflict over the amount of evidence sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him. “
Senior Officials at DOJ, including Attorney General Merrick GarlandDeputy Attorney General Lisa Monacoand the Director of the FBI Christopher Wray remained faithful to this approach “even as there was evidence of a weeklong organized effort by Trump and his advisers prior to January 6 to pressure state leaders, Justice officials and the Vice President Mike Pence to block Biden’s confirmation of victory.”
“The decision was made early to focus Justice Department resources on the riots,” a former Justice Department official familiar with internal debates about the department’s strategy told the paper. parcel. “The concept of opening up to Trump and high-ranking political officials is seen as fraught with danger. When Lisa [Monaco] and Garland participated, they totally agree with that approach.”
Strategy comes even if Michael Sherwinacting U.S. attorney in Washington, DC in the early months of 2021, promised shortly after the attack that prosecutors were “looking into all actors, not just those who entered the building.”
The approach created disagreement within the DOJ ranks. The parcel The investigation revealed that “several prosecutors” under Garland and Monaco “resented that top officials were avoiding looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him.” he.”
Department employees tasked with putting together brief documents for the attorney general and his deputy were asked to avoid mentioning Trump or his allies. A former Justice official told Parcel, “You can’t use the T-word.”
“You can take it to the extreme,” Peter Zeidenberg, who participated in the Bush White House special counsel’s investigation in the 2000s, spoke of the department’s desire to avoid the appearance of political impropriety. “You work hard not to be a party member so you don’t get your work done,” he told Parcel.
Finally, when the DOJ began investigating the election sham scheme in early 2022, the bipartisan House Select Committee on the January 6 Attacks launched its own investigation into officials and Trump’s top ally. The parcel quoted a person familiar with the DOJ’s internal deliberations, who “felt as if the department was reacting to the work of the House committee and increased media coverage and commentary, ” draw attention to this plan. “Only after being embarrassed do they start looking,” the person said.
