WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has asked the House committee investigating the January 6 attacks to provide transcripts of interviews it is conducting behind closed doors, including some with associates of former President Donald J. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The move is further evidence of the broad nature of the department’s criminal investigation into the events leading up to the attack on the Capitol and the role Trump and his allies play as they seek to keep him in office. after losing the 2020 election.
The House committee, which does not have the power to pursue criminal charges, has interviewed more than 1,000 people to date, and transcripts can be used by the Justice Department as evidence in potential criminal cases, to follow. pursue new leads or form the basis of new interviews conducted by federal law enforcement officials.
Aides to Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and committee chair, have yet to reach a final agreement with the Justice Department on what will be delivered, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. This matter spoke on condition of anonymity. because of the confidential nature of the investigations.
On April 20, Kenneth A. Polite Jr., assistant attorney general for the crime division, and Matthew M. Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote to Timothy J. Heaphy, principal investigator of the House panel, advised him that some of the committee’s interviews “may contain information relevant to the criminal investigation we are conducting.”
Mr. Polite and Mr. Graves did not say how many transcripts they requested or whether any interviews were of particular interest. In their letter, they made an extensive request, asking the panel to “provide us with transcripts of these interviews and any additional interviews you conduct in the future.” .”
A person familiar with the matter said the transcripts were part of a negotiation between the commission and the Justice Department, in which the panel hoped that prosecutors would turn over evidence in exchange for transcripts.
“Interviews owned by the committee are the property of the committee,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the panel. “I imagine that the committee would want to see any relevant evidence used with any relevant legal context.”
Asked about the Justice Department’s request after this article was published, Mr. Thompson drew the distinction between handing over documents by the committee and allowing certain documents to be reviewed. He suggested that the panel invested considerable time and effort in conducting numerous interviews and was reluctant to move on.
“We can’t give them full access to our product,” he told reporters. “That would be too early at this point, because we haven’t done our own work yet.”
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
The department’s investigation worked in a direction separate from the commission’s work. In general, investigators working on the two investigations did not share information, except sometimes contacted to ensure that a witness was not scheduled to appear before different investigators at the same time. a while, according to a person with knowledge of the investigations.
To date, the Justice Department has charged more than 800 people with crimes related to the Capitol storm. But over the past several months, the department has taken steps to widen its focus essentially to review plans for the January 6 protest before the riots, while also signaling that its investigation will including broader efforts to overturn the election. And in recent weeks, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has been assisting the core team tasked with dealing with the most sensitive and politically flammable elements of the investigation.
A few months ago, the set quietly detailed a veteran federal prosecutor from Maryland, Thomas Windom, arrives at the department’s headquarters. He is overseeing the politically tense question of whether a case could be made regarding other efforts to overturn the election, aside from the storm on Capitol Hill. That mandate could move the investigation closer to Mr. Trump and his inner circle.
A subpoena reviewed by The New York Times indicates that the Justice Department is probing actions taken by protest planners.
Prosecutors have begun requesting records of people who held or spoke at some of the pro-Trump rallies after the 2020 election as well as anyone who provided security at those events, and about people who are considered “VIP attendees”.
They are also seeking information on any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have been involved in the planning or carrying out of the protests, or attempting to “obstruct, influence, obstruct or delay” the certification of the election, as the subpoena stated.
The Justice Department’s request for transcripts highlights the extent to which the House committee has covered and the unusual nature of the situation in which a well-trained congressional investigation obtained testimony from witnesses. important before a grand jury investigation.
The Commission has signaled that it is is considering a criminal referral Trump and some of his associates to the Justice Department, a step that could increase pressure on Mr. Garland to pursue a case.
In a judgment in a civil action filed by the commission, a federal judge found in March that Mr. Trump and John Eastman, an attorney who advised him on how to reverse the election, most likely committed felony crimes, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.
The House committee, which includes seven Democrats and two Republicans, is led by Mr. Thompson and Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two House Republicans to join an investigation into whether scrutinize the actions of their own political party. The panel has about 45 staff members, including more than a dozen former federal prosecutors and two former U.S. attorneys, and it is spending more than $1.6 million per quarter on its work.
The committee obtained documents and testimony from multiple witnesses, including more than a dozen Trump White House officials, protest planners and several rioters.
Those witnesses include White House attorneys; Officers of the Justice Department; security staff; members of the National Guard; staff members close to former Vice President Mike Pence; members of Mr. Trump’s personal legal team; Republicans have been involved in a plan to bring in pro-Trump electors from states where Joseph R. Biden Jr won; Members of Mr. Trump’s own family; and leaders of right-wing militia groups.
At least 16 Trump allies have signaled they will not cooperate fully with the committee. Faced with such resistance, the panel investigators took a page out of organized crime prosecutions and has quietly turned at least six lower-level Trump administration employees into informed witnesses about the activities of their bosses.
Several witnesses – including an aide to Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff – provided key information.
The committee also attempted to obtain testimony from Republican members of Congress, and it issued subpoenas to five legislators last week. Those members denied the panel’s work but declined to say whether they would participate in the interviews, scheduled for late May. One of the lawmakers, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, said he received the subpoena on Monday and is reviewing it.
Mr. Garland and his top aides have been careful about not disclosing their investigative methods, and they have tried to emphasize their fairness in limited public comments on the investigation. check.
Deputy Attorney General, Lisa O. Monaco, said last week in an interview at the University of Chicago.
“We follow the evidence,” she added. “It’s very important to do it methodically.”
