Federal prosecutors in recent days have asked witnesses directly about former President Donald J. Trump’s involvement in efforts to reverse his election loss, said a person familiar with the testimony Tuesday, suggesting the Justice Department’s criminal investigation has turned into a more aggressive and politically charged phase.
Mr. Trump’s personal role in elements of the bid to make up for his 2020 loss to Joseph R. Biden Jr. undoing has long been proven, both by his public actions and by statements and evidence gathered by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
But the Justice Department has been largely silent about how and even whether it would weigh in on prosecuting potential charges against Mr. Trump, and has been reluctant to even admit that his role was discussed in senior leadership meetings at the Department.
Asking questions about Mr. Trump in connection with the voter conspiracy or the attack on the Capitol does not mean that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation against him, a decision that would have huge political and legal implications.
The department’s investigation into a central element of pressure to keep Mr. Trump in office — the plan to name voters pledged to Mr. Trump in battlefield states won by Mr. Biden — now appears to be under way. Accelerate as prosecutors with the US Attorney’s office in Washington testify about Mr. Trump and members of his inner circle, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said the person familiar with the testimony.
Key Revelations from the January 6 Hearings
In April, before the commission convened its series of public hearings, Justice Department investigators received phone records from key officials and aides at the Trump White House, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
Two top associates of Vice President Mike Pence testified before the federal grand jury in the case last week, and prosecutors have issued subpoenas and search warrants against a growing number of figures associated with Mr. Trump and the campaign to prevent his loss.
A spokesman for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland declined to comment, saying the Justice Department had not provided details of the grand jury proceedings. The Department of Witnesses’ questioning about Mr Trump and the receipt of the phone records were: previously reported by The Washington Post.
If a decision were made to open a criminal investigation into Mr Trump after he announced his intention to run in the 2024 election, as he continues to hint he could, the leadership would of the Department must initiate a formal consultation process and then sign a formal endorsement of the Department’s intentions under a by-law drafted by former Attorney General William P. Barr and approved by Mr. Garland.
But in recent days, Mr. Garland has repeatedly asserted his right to investigate or prosecute anyone, including Mr. Trump, provided the evidence leads.
“The Justice Department has taken urgent action from the outset to learn everything about this period and bring to justice all those criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one government to another. , which is the fundamental element of our democracy,” Mr. Garland told “NBC Nightly News” in an interview that aired Tuesday, when asked to comment on criticism that his investigation was moving too slowly.
Trump’s questions focused, among other things, on the plan he was pushing to derail congressional certification of Mr Biden’s electoral college victory on Jan. 6, 2021, the person familiar with the testimony said.
Pence’s two aides who testified before the grand jury — Marc Short, who was his chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, who was his counsel — were present at an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4, 2021, when Mr. Trump attempted to press Mr Pence to embrace the plan to cite the competing electoral rolls as a justification for blocking or delaying electoral college certification.
In recent weeks, the Justice Department has also seized phones belonging to two key figures, John Eastman, the attorney who helped develop and promote the plan to review the Electoral College’s certification, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who has been at the center of the related push to send the voter rolls pledged to Mr. Trump from the states Mr. Biden has won.
Prosecutors have also issued grand jury subpoenas against figures linked to the so-called fake voter scheme. Those who received the subpoenas have largely been state legislators or Republican officials, many of whom have put their names on documents proving they were voters for Mr. Trump from states won by Mr. Biden.
The subpoenas, some of which were obtained by The New York Times, show prosecutors are interested in gathering information about a group of pro-Trump lawyers who helped devise and execute the plan, including Mr. Eastman and Rudolph. W. Giuliani, who was Mr. Trump’s personal attorney.
There is also evidence that the tense standoff between the Department of Justice and congressional investigators over the transcripts of interviews taken for the Jan. 6 commission hearings is easing. The House will begin handing over some of the transcripts and plans to pick up the pace in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the situation.
Committee members, led by Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney, have said they are still considering making a criminal justice referral to the Justice Department in hopes of increasing pressure on Garland to impeach Mr Trump. prosecute.
Mr. Garland shook off that suggestion.
“I think that’s entirely up to the committee,” he said in his NBC interview. “We will have the evidence that the committee has presented, and whatever evidence it gives us, I don’t think the nature of how she style, the way information is provided, is of particular importance from any legal point of view.”