Former Jan. 6 committee chair confirms probe data despatched to prosecutors investigating Trump
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee, has confirmed to Republican lawmakers that the panel despatched data to prosecutors who’ve filed fees in opposition to former President Donald Trump, after initially saying he had not preserved such materials.
Mr. Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, made the acknowledgment in a Dec. 13 letter to House Administration Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk, Georgia Republican, in response to Mr. Loudermilk’s request per week earlier.
“As stated in its Final Report, the bipartisan Select Committee transmitted its evidence of potential crimes to prosecutors conducting concurrent, independent investigations of then-President Trump’s multi-part conspiracy to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 Presidential election and the deadly January 6th insurrection,” Mr. Thompson instructed Mr. Loudermilk.
Republicans launched an inquiry in early December into whether or not the Select Committee despatched paperwork and supplies to Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis to assist her construct a felony case in opposition to Mr. Trump. Ms. Willis, a Democrat, is prosecuting Mr. Trump and greater than a dozen co-defendants on fees associated to efforts to overturn President Biden’s win in Georgia in 2020.
Mr. Loudermilk and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio beforehand requested Ms. Willis and Mr. Thompson to show over paperwork associated to any investigative coordination between the Georgia prosecutor’s workplace and the committee.
The Georgia Republican instructed Mr. Thompson in one other letter on Dec. 5 that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Select Committee shared data with Ms. Willis and offered Fulton County prosecutors “key evidence about what former President Trump and his top advisers knew with respect to Georgia’s 2020 election results.”
He wrote, “However, there are no records of any additional communication between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis and her office. Therefore, we have no records showing what the Select Committee actually provided her office.”
Mr. Loudermilk famous that this involved him as a result of Mr. Thompson wrote in a earlier letter that he didn’t protect any video recordings of depositions or transcribed interviews. The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Thompson’s workplace.
“By failing to preserve these videos, you deny the American public the right to review the footage and make their own conclusions about witnesses’ truthfulness. Clearly Ms. Willis agrees that video recordings of witness interviews and depositions are important records,” he mentioned.
“There are no records of any additional communication between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis and her office,” Mr. Loudermilk wrote on Dec. 5. “Therefore, we have no records showing what the Select Committee actually provided her office.”
House GOP investigators not too long ago discovered a Dec. 17, 2021, letter from Ms. Willis by which she requested “recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel” from Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson initially denied to The Washington Times that the Select Committee ever responded to Ms. Willis’ request, regardless of stories on the contrary in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We did not share any records,” he mentioned. “That is incorrect.”
The Mississippi Democrat additionally instructed Mr. Loudermilk in his Dec. 13 letter that he couldn’t hand over Select Committee data, and cited a House rule that requires panel data be saved separate and distinct from the data of the congressional workplace of the lawmaker serving because the committee’s chair.
“So, I am unable to provide the Select Committee records your letter requests,” he wrote. “It is my understanding that all archived records of the bipartisan Select Committee have been transferred to the Committee on House Administration.”
Mr. Thompson reiterated that in a earlier letter to Mr. Loudermilk on July 7, “the bipartisan Select Committee worked diligently to archive ‘official, permanent’ records consistent with” House guidelines.
