The group investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol led by supporters of former president Donald Trump are battling the clock as Trump and his allies file lawsuits, ignore subpoenas and bet on Republicans gaining control of the House – and stopping the probe.
The House select committee soon hopes to begin public hearings that will put the investigation in the limelight, but they won’t beat the anniversary of the attack, on which both Trump and President Joe Biden have speaking engagements planned.
The committee is set to report what led to the deadly attack, in which Trump supporters assaulted police and stormed the Capitol building, causing mass hysteria for members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence.
While they’ve received a cache of documents from Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, they’ve found themselves at a standstill, as Trump and his allies obstruct the investigation at every given opportunity.
The select committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses. They include Keith Kellogg, who was former Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser and was near Trump on January 6; Trump campaign adviser and associate Roger Stone, who asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination; and ‘Stop the Steal’ rally organizer Ali Alexander.
Making slow progress, the nine-person committee unanimously voted to recommend contempt charges against Meadows in December for failing to comply with his subpoena.
The committee did the same in October with Steve Bannon, whom they said had not been cooperating with their investigation at all. Bannon pleaded not guilty to contempt of Congress charges after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for failing to comply with a congressional summons. His trial is set for July.
The former president had instructed aides to defy subpoenas since the start, and most recently launched an appeal to the supreme court to prevent the release of sensitive White House records.
And to top it all off, members of the committee are now racing against the clock to finish their work before upcoming elections in November, where Republicans are largely expected to do well.
If the Republican party wins control of the House, they would be able to shut down the investigation, which has proven to be a massive point of political tension.
House Republican leadership refused to take part in the probe as about 55% of Republican voters now believe former President Trump’s claims that his defeat was the result of widespread fraud, according to Reuters.
As the House probe has advanced, the Justice Department continues to prosecute the approximate 725 accused rioters on charges stemming from the events of January 6. Those charges range from disorderly conduct to conspiracy.
About 165 people have pleaded guilty to taking part in the attack. The first trials could begin as soon as next month.
The committee is aiming to release an interim report in the summer of 2022 and a final report in the fall, a source familiar with the investigation said.
‘We will be conducting multiple weeks of public hearings, setting out for the American people in vivid color exactly what happened, every minute of the day on Jan. 6, here at the Capitol and at the White House, and what led to that violent attack,’ Republican Representative Liz Cheney said in December.
Trump is separately under investigation by state prosecutors in Georgia over whether he unlawfully pressured election officials to change the vote tally in his favor.
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