Hutchinson Testimony Exposes Tensions Between Parallel Jan. 6 Inquiries

[brooklynite]

New York Times

WASHINGTON — The explosive testimony of a former Trump White House aide on Tuesday may have increased the likelihood of new prosecutions stemming from the attack on the Capitol, but it also bared lingering conflicts between the Justice Department and congressional investigators.

The federal prosecutors working on the case watched the aide’s appearance before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and were just as astonished by her account of former President Donald J. Trump’s increasingly desperate bid to hold on to power as other viewers. The panel did not provide them with videos or transcripts of her taped interviews with committee members beforehand, according to several officials, leaving them feeling blindsided.

The testimony from the aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked for Mr. Trump’s final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, came at a critical moment in parallel investigations that will soon converge, and possibly collide, as the committee wraps up a public inquiry geared for maximum political effect and the department intensifies a high-stakes investigation aimed at securing airtight convictions.

...snip...

Committee members have repeatedly suggested that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has not moved fast enough to follow up their investigative leads. But for reasons that are not entirely clear — classic Washington bureaucratic territorialism, the department’s unwillingness to share information or the desire to stage-manage a successful public forum — members have resisted turning over hundreds of transcripts until they are done with their work.

Senior Justice Department officials say that has slowed their investigation. Ms. Hutchinson’s name has not yet appeared on subpoenas and other court documents related to their investigation into the effort to overturn the 2020 election, and she did not seem to be a primary witness before the hearings.

[gab13by13]

1. To summarize;

The select committee is eating DOJ's lunch with fewer people, less resources, and less clout.

[brooklynite]

4. ...and fewer cases to prosecute.

[gab13by13]

6. Hire more people

[CentralMass]

2. Bad optics, the DOJ whining about the Committee doing their job.

[gab13by13]

3. DOJ could have been investigating the fake elector scheme 1 1/2 years ago.

The National Archives knew about fake electors January 2021. It took a criminal referral from the Michigan AG, 5 months ago, before DOJ started to investigate. The Michigan AG even said, if DOJ isn't going to investigate the fake electors she would.

Have they found the missing classified documents yet that Trump stole? That was a year and a half ago.

It seems to me that DOJ is reluctant to indict Trump or Meadows. It never gave a reason why it passed on Meadow's criminal referral for blowing off a subpoena. Saying it was because of discovery is laughable.

Mark Meadows should be before a grand jury today.

[Samrob]

5. Remember, the source of this spin.

The Ms. Hutchinson sought out the J6 Committee to give more testimony. I am sure they the Committee is putting stuff out in public to give the DOJ no excuses for not going after these fascists. Patience, Grasshopper., patience.

[gab13by13]

8. Patience, or Delay, is a GQP tactic, is it not?

[KPN]

7. DOJ put all its energy into the lemmings and none of it into

those who led them over the cliff until very recently. What have they done with any of the referrals the Select Committee sent them? Very little. They got nothing to complain about. Given the DOJ support and record to date, I can understand why the Select Committee didn’t give them a preview. I’m with the Committee on this one. Quit the griping DOJ. This is about saving America.

ps — Maybe Garland is awake at the wheel finally as a result of being caught off guard.

[brooklynite]

11. "Maybe Garland is awake at the wheel finally"

Or maybe Garland is doing what he always said he was going to do: start at the bottom and build cases up from there,

[KPN]

12. We will see. Hard to have a rosy outlook given the overall track record. The DOJ has to act now.

They have no option, but will it be enough and will it be in time? Again, hard to have a rosy outlook.

[comradebillyboy]

9. Doesn't Garland's Justice Department have the ability to carry out

an independent investigation? They seem to be wanting Congress to do their jobs for them. Pretty sad for them to admit how clueless they are.

[Justice matters.]

10. Clueless or deliberately delaying (?)

Because they could be scared of one (or more) dishonest magat(s) succesfully infiltrating juries?

[Hortensis]

13. They're on the same side, with the Republican coup plotters on the other.

They're in different branches of government and have different mandates.