During a recent appearance on CNN, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — who serves as both the chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot — pledged to continue pursuing documents relevant to the probe of that riot. Largely, such an effort would entail the obtaining of Trump-related documents, although certain political allies of his have also been targeted in some capacity. The riot investigation committee, for instance, has singled out records from communication companies for individuals like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), an ardent Trump supporter and a continued promoter of the lie that last year’s election was somehow rigged for Biden.
Predictably, certain prominent Republicans have melted down over the riot investigation committee’s attempts to obtain relevant evidentiary materials, but the panel is continuing its work anyway. On CNN, Schiff said that the committee has already “gotten a wealth of materials,” with more no doubt on the way. As he put it:
‘I think we can certainly tell with respect to some of those that we’re pursuing information from that they are cooperating; they want to be cooperative. With others, frankly, because I could speak as the chair of the intel committee, we requested documents months ago that we’ve been getting slow-walked on, and now the select committee has requested those same documents and more. We’re going to have to use whatever tools we have… to compel performance if we don’t get things right away… The response has been uneven, but even with that, we have gotten a wealth of materials that we’re just beginning to go through.’
Check out Schiff’s comments below:
"Will we underestimate again? I have to think that the answer to that is no," says Congressman Adam Schiff on reports of a warning email ahead of Jan. 6.
"Every precaution is going to be made and no one wants to… have another event like we had on January 6, period." pic.twitter.com/mlswyWYqEU
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) September 10, 2021
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another member of the riot investigation committee, also recently spoke about documents getting obtained by the panel. On MSNBC, she said that “quite a bit of information has come in and is still coming in.” Besides the committee’s requests for communications companies to preserve certain records, the panel also asked for Trump documents from a slew of government agencies, ranging from the Justice Department to the National Archives. Among other examples, the committee asked the National Archives to hand over “all documents and communications within the White House” related to Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani and others.
