In a joint statement Monday, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) confirmed an expansive release of evidence by the House January 6 panel to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who recently took over two investigations at the Justice Department involving Trump.
Smith’s work includes the department’s investigation into political schemes around the 2020 presidential election to keep Trump in power despite his loss to Biden, which is separate from the individual criminal cases against Capitol rioters. “Over the past several weeks, the Committee has made an enormous volume of material available to the Special Counsel,” Cheney and Thompson said Monday. “We have posted the vast majority of our transcripts on our website, and asked agencies concerned about special security issues to review those transcripts that have not been public. Consistent with House Rules, an enormous volume of material has been provided to the National Archives. The Select Committee has also decided to make public a sizable trove of material, much of which is already available online.”
A report from Punchbowl News spotlighted an early December request from Smith for the riot panel’s investigative materials, and that report also said the committee already started providing Smith with docs from throughout the probe. Smith has also sent subpoenas for communications with a list including Trump, his campaign, employees or agents of the same, and allies like Rudy Giuliani. Election officials from Georgia to Nevada have received versions of those demands for relevant info. Smith would likely be among those deciding on whether to charge Trump following the results of his own investigation and the recent recommendations for charges by the House riot panel. Among the areas of focus are the purported electoral votes for Trump assembled in states Biden won after the 2020 presidential race, which riot committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) tied to panel recommendations for charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Before Smith, Justice Department investigators already targeted figures including John Eastman and Jeffrey Clark, including with a raid in which agents seized electronic devices from Clark, who served in the Justice Department itself as Trump’s term ended and supported his election subversion efforts. The Georgia investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into pro-Trump election meddling in which she identified Giuliani as a target — meaning charges are possible — is also still active.
