There has been no slowdown in the investigative work now under the purview of recently selected Special Counsel Jack Smith since he took over.
Smith is leading two investigations: the criminal probe into Trump’s harboring of classified docs after he left office and the multi-faceted investigation into political schemes to keep Trump in power despite his loss. In what would seem to be the latter investigation, which is distinct from the individual prosecutions of Capitol riot participants, which Smith is not handling, longtime Trump ally Stephen Miller provided grand jury testimony for a second time on Tuesday. CNN noted Miller, who remained onboard at the White House on January 6 — during the course of which he was personally in touch with the then-president, could provide insights for investigators about Trump’s state of mind leading up to his outdoor rally speech that day. Miller apparently spoke with Trump about the speech, after which the then-president added sentiments about Pence, which were then removed from a draft of the remarks at the urging of a White House lawyer. Trump eventually ranted against Pence anyway.
Miller also provided federal grand jury testimony last week, and he has also provided testimony to the House committee investigating January 6, which is preparing to wind down its probe with this Congress, including with the imminent release of a final report. There has also been talk of the panel releasing the bulk of its interview transcripts, some of which have been touched on — but not in full — during the series of public hearings held by the committee in recent months. In the Justice Department probes, others who have recently provided grand jury testimony include former top White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Pat Philbin. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating pro-Trump election meddling after the 2020 presidential election, also continues to see success in securing testimony, with recent court rulings directing that prominent Trump allies including Mark Meadows and Michael Flynn answer questions.
Smith, meanwhile, is also seeing some success in his other investigation, with an appeals court panel recently ruling in favor of the Justice Department in its push to put an end to a time-consuming review by a court-appointed third party known as a special master of items seized from Trump in Florida.
