WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has asked the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 attack for transcripts of interviews it is conducting, which includes discussions with former President Donald J. Trump, according to people familiar with the situation.
This move, which comes as Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appears to be accelerating the pace of his thorough investigation into the Capitol riot, is the clearest sign so far of a large-scale investigation at the Department of Justice.
So far, the chamber’s commission has interviewed more than 1,000 people, and transcripts can be used as evidence in potential criminal cases, to look for new clues, or as the main text for new interviews conducted by federal law enforcement officials.
Assistants Benny Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the committee, have yet to reach a final agreement with the Justice Department on what will be handed over, according to a spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the confidentiality of investigations. .
On April 20, Kenneth A. Polit Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, and Matthew M. Graves, U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote to Timothy J. Heifi, a leading investigator in the Chamber, advised him that “some interviews in committees” may contain information related to the criminal investigation we are conducting. “
Mr Polit and Mr Graves did not indicate the number of transcripts they requested or whether any interviews were of particular interest. In their letter, they made a broad request, asking the committee to “provide us with transcripts of these interviews and of any additional interviews you are conducting in the future”.
Spokesmen for the Ministry of Justice and the chamber’s commission declined to comment.
The investigation of the Ministry of Justice works separately from the work of the commission. In general, investigators working on both investigations do not share information, except when communicating to ensure that a witness does not appear before different investigators at the same time, according to a person familiar with the investigations.
So far, the Justice Department’s investigation has focused more on lower-level activists storming the Capitol than on those planning the attack. But in recent weeks, Mr Garland has backed the core team tasked with tackling the most sensitive and politically inflammatory elements of the investigation.
A few months ago, the department quietly sent veteran Maryland federal attorney Thomas Wyndham to the department’s headquarters. He oversees the politically difficult question of whether a lawsuit can be filed involving efforts to cancel the election other than the storming of the Capitol. This task could bring the investigation closer to Mr Trump and his inner circle.
A subpoena reviewed by The New York Times shows that the Department of Justice is investigating the actions taken by the organizers of the rallies.
Prosecutors began asking for recordings of people who organized or spoke at several rallies about Trump after the 2020 election, as well as anyone who provided security for those events, and those who were considered “VIP participants.”
They are also seeking information on all members of the executive and legislature who may have participated in the planning or conduct of rallies or tried to “hinder, influence, hinder or delay” the certification of elections, as stated in the summons.
The Justice Department’s request for transcripts underscores the extent to which the House of Representatives committee has been involved and the unusual nature of a situation in which a well-trained congressional investigation has received testimony from key witnesses before a grand jury investigation.
The House of Representatives committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, is led by Mr Thompson and Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of only two Republicans in the House of Representatives to embrace an investigation into their own party’s actions. The panel has about 45 employees, including more than a dozen former federal prosecutors and two former U.S. attorneys, and spends more than $ 1.6 million a quarter on its work.
The committee has received documents and testimony from a wide range of witnesses, including more than a dozen Trump White House officials, rally organizers and some of the rebels themselves. These witnesses include White House lawyers; employees of the Ministry of Justice; security officers; members of the National Guard; officials close to Vice President Mike Pence; members of Mr. Trump’s personal legal team; Republicans who participated in a scheme to raise voters in favor of Trump from states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr.; members of Mr. Trump’s family; and right-wing militia leaders.
At least 16 of Trump’s allies have signaled that they will not cooperate fully with the committee. Faced with such resistance, the group’s investigators pulled a page out of the crackdown on organized crime and silently turned at least six lower-level Trump officials into witnesses who provided information about their bosses’ activities.
Some of these witnesses – including Mark Meadows’ aide, a former White House chief of staff – provided critical information.
The commission also tried to get testimony from Republican members of Congress and issued summonses to five lawmakers last week. These members denigrated the work of the commission, but declined to say whether they would take part in the interviews, which are scheduled for the end of May. One lawmaker, Jim Jordan’s Ohio, said he received his summons Monday and is reviewing it.
Mr Garland and his chief aides are careful not to disclose their methods of investigation and try to emphasize their impartiality in limited public comments on the investigation.
“We are investigating behavior and crime, not people or views,” Lisa O. Monaco, deputy attorney general, said last week in an interview at the University of Chicago.
“We are following the evidence,” she added. “It’s very important to do this methodically.”
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