Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who’s now running for Senate in his home state, is keeping up the pressure for substantial action by the federal Justice Department in response to the political schemes supporting Donald Trump’s attempts at nabbing a second term despite his 2020 loss.
“The Grand Jury in Fulton County found sufficient evidence to recommend potential charges against individuals for their efforts to overturn the election,” Schiff said. “So did the Jan. 6 committee. The Justice Department likely has access to an even greater body of evidence. It must act.” Schiff served on the committee he referenced, which operated in the House and collected simply massive volumes of evidence — which investigators promptly began providing to staff at the Justice Department. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who took over the federal probe into political schemes to keep Trump in power after the 2020 presidential election, made a request last December for the evidence that the committee collected, which covered a wide range of areas. The committee’s work extended to the political developments that led up to the riot rather than just the violence itself.
In Fulton County, Georgia, the jury Schiff referenced could not itself approve indictments, although the jurors could recommend certain courses of action. The bulk of the final report from that jury’s work is not publicly available, although a member of the jury has done media appearances. Some of the language in what was made available, clarifying that anything left out of the jury’s recommendations shouldn’t be construed to weigh against the local district attorney nonetheless pursuing concurrent charges, suggests in itself the jury settled on at least some recommendations for charges.
Trump, of course, is maintaining that he’s innocent. Already, he falsely claimed he received total exoneration after selected portions of the jury’s report were released publicly, although the parts released didn’t even total half, making any conclusive claim of the outcome laughably ridiculous. It would be like saying you passed a class before even turning in your test answers. Besides, the jurors did specify in available materials that they found no evidence of the kind of systematic election fraud that Trump claimed was present. Elsewhere, Smith is also collecting materials from officials like the three members of the Arizona state legislature who reports recently revealed were subpoenaed for communications they may have had with figures like Trump himself. A fourth individual, who has since left the Arizona legislature but previously led the elections panel in the state Senate, was also subpoenaed — as were former state legislators Karen Fann and Kelly Townsend, although those demands were further back in time.
The Grand Jury in Fulton County found sufficient evidence to recommend potential charges against individuals for their efforts to overturn the election.
So did the Jan. 6 committee.
The Justice Department likely has access to an even greater body of evidence.
It must act.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 21, 2023
