CNN reported last Thursday that Justice Department officials are watching the House select committee Jan. 6 hearings for what kind of possible crimes the committee believes it has uncovered.
It’s possible at the end of the committee’s investigation, it makes criminal referrals, or something less formal by turning over evidence that prosecutors could examine.
While the committee cannot bring legal charges against former President Trump, Chairman Bennie Thompson said the committee will cooperate with the DOJ.
During a hearing for the criminal case against the Proud Boys last week, Justice Department prosecutors said that the committee is planning to release all 1,000 witness transcripts from its investigation in early September, coinciding with the trial of five Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the riot.
Officials are mindful that some members of the committee have been critical of the pace of the DOJ investigation.
But they believe that criticism is outdated. Recent subpoenas looking into the “alternate electors” scheme and ties to the Trump campaign, as well as other indications prosecutors are looking beyond the rioters and focusing on people who helped instigate the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Where things stand in the DOJ investigation: Seventeen months after the riot, the Justice Department has arrested over 840 individuals, charging roughly 255 with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers that day – 90 of whom are charged with using a weapon or causing serious injury to an officer.
According to the Justice Department, over 50 defendants have been charged with conspiracy, ranging from conspiring to obstruct a congressional proceeding to conspiring to obstruct law enforcement.
Sixteen individuals – members of the far-right groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – have been charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged actions that day, three of whom have pleaded guilty to the charge.
Roughly 305 rioters have pleaded guilty, 59 of whom have pleaded to felony charges. Of the seven January 6 cases that have gone to trial, all but one has been found guilty.
But the investigation is not close to being over. The Justice Department is still looking for over 350 individuals who they say “committed violent acts on Capitol grounds.”
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand contributed reporting to this post.
