The comment responded to the Justice Department’s concerns raised by the court that the committee had not shared transcripts and jeopardized the department’s ability to prosecute and investigate the January 6 events. The New York Times reported Friday that the committee could now share them as early as July. Several weeks ago, prosecutors told a court they did not expect the committee to share them until September.
“The select committee is involved in a cooperative process to address the needs of the Justice Department,” committee spokesman Tim Mulvey said in a statement to CNN. “We are not inclined to share the details of this publicly. We believe that accountability is important and will not be an obstacle to the prosecution of the Department.”
The panel’s statement is the latest in a back-and-forth between the committee and the Justice Department, where the department says the panel is slowing down its investigation by not sharing its transcripts, while the panel claims it is not trying to stay in the research form of the department.
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, told reporters Thursday that the panel would not stop its work to share its materials with the Justice Department.
“We will not stop what we are doing to share the information we have received so far with the Department of Justice,” he said. “We have to do our job.”
Democrat Zoe Lofgren of California, who is a member of the committee, criticized the Justice Department for its general request for all transcripts of interviews held by the committee, she told CNN’s Jake Tapper in “The Lead “It’s really not the way the DOJ is supposed to work” and asking “what have they been doing there?”
“I mean, they know all the witnesses we’ve had for over a year. They could summon them. They could open grand juries,” Lofgren said.
Lofgren also said the Justice Department has a much easier process to force witnesses to testify and enforce subpoenas than a congressional committee, but that the department’s interest in the committee’s work is potentially a sign that the his own research.
“It just makes me wonder, but what have they been doing there?” Lofgren asked. “I mean, they have a much easier way of forgetting the testimony with their citations than we do with ours. Hopefully, that shows they’re getting ready. We’re going to make sure we’re doing what we can. Doing to help, but we will not allow our research to be interrupted. ”
Despite his criticisms, Lofgren acknowledged that the committee will work with the Department of Justice and will not be an obstacle to this.
“We will certainly liaise with them and provide the necessary transcripts and information that may be needed, but you do not have the executive power to enter the legislature and it will essentially turn our investigation upside down. That is not how they have done things.” “But we will liaise with the DOJ. We will provide what is needed in an orderly manner,” he said.
Lofgren said the Justice Department’s argument that the committee is delaying future trials and prosecutions for not delivering materials was “legally false.” He said the department must deliver evidence that it has, but “they must not deliver evidence that they do not have.”
“The testimony received by congressional committees is protected by the speech or debate clause of the Constitution,” Lofgren said. “That’s just a serious misunderstanding, you know.”
But federal judges often expect prosecutors to make a bona fide effort to obtain the information, CNN legal collaborator Elie Honig said.
“Prosecutors have an obligation to provide exculpatory evidence, evidence that may be useful to a defendant. So if you are a prosecutor, you have to go out and gather any evidence that can help a defendant, even in a small way.” Honig. dit. “What they want to avoid is a situation where they say, ‘Judge, there’s evidence that Congress has, we don’t have it, I’m sorry, we can’t turn it around,’ and the judge could dismiss those cases.”
The letter, Honig said, is probably part of the effort to show he is trying to get information from Congress.