Current Trump Spokesman Reveals Cooperation With Jan. 6 Committee

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Taylor Budowich, a current spokesperson for ex-President Trump, revealed in a recent court filing that he has “cooperated extensively” with the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, as summarized by Reuters. That cooperation has so far included the sharing of about 1,700 pages of documents with the committee and the provision of about four hours of testimony. As recapped by Reuters, Budowich “answered questions about the financing and planning of a speech by Trump to supporters near the White House on Jan. 6 that preceded the violence at the Capitol that day.” He made revelations of his cooperation in connection to a court case in which he’s trying to block the committee from accessing certain financial records of his.

As Budowich put it, the committee’s subpoena for his financial records allegedly “seeks personal financial material that is irrelevant to any conceivable legislation and not pertinent to any purported purpose of the Select Committee.” It’s not the first front for legal fights over the work of the investigative panel. Separately, Trump has filed a lawsuit trying to block the committee from obtaining certain records from his administration, although he’s struggled to obtain wins as that case has progressed, and he’s now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite the best efforts of Trump and others to upend the committee’s work, it’s already heard from over 300 witnesses and counting — including Budowich, apparently.

Going forward, the panel is continuing to pursue testimony from key individuals surrounding Trump and the events of January 6, and it has multiple weeks of public hearings in development for next year. The committee was recently reported to be examining the question of whether it ought to issue criminal referrals for offenses including obstruction of an official proceeding and wire fraud. Obstructing an official proceeding would cover the impact on Congress of the Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol in January, while wire fraud would connect to the fact that Trump and other Republicans raised huge sums of money on the false pretenses of claims of a stolen election. Trump and others could be the subjects of those referrals, although final decisions on whether to bring prosecutions would rest with the Justice Department.