It was revealed on Tuesday evening by the Washington Post that the Justice Department is looking into former President Donald Trump and his actions in an attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
The report came out not long after NBC News host Lester Holt posted his full interview with Attorney General Merrick Garland in which he reiterated that attempting to overthrow an election is a crime. Holt asked Garland specifically about Jan. 6, but in his response, Garland pivoted to talk about how important it is for the DOJ to hold accountable anyone who is criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which is a fundamental part of our democracy."
Speaking to MSNBC's Chris Hayes, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a member of the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 said that the report from the Post doesn't say that witnesses are being asked about Trump's role in the attempt to overthrow American democracy. So, the Post report "doesn't necessarily mean the [former] president is under investigation."
"You would expect that witnesses would be asked of interactions with anyone involved in the plot to overturn the election," said Schiff. "But look, I think the attorney general today was saying all the right things. And I notice a difference, at least I perceived a difference between what he had been saying earlier about focusing on all those involved in the attack on Jan. 6 and now talking more broadly about the overall plot to overturn the election. So, I would hope that if the department is truly following the evidence wherever it leads, it will recognize it is leading to Donald J. Trump."
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He went on to explain that the piece that caught his ear was that he has moved on from talking about the violence on Jan. 6 and onto talking about the overall attempt to overthrow the United States.
"Frankly this was the main criticism I had previously about the department, that is yes, it was doing an expansive investigation in 50 states of all of those who participated in the attack, those who conspired in a seditious way about the attack," Schiff continued. "But it was very focused on the violence of Jan. 6, which is obviously a key and important but they are multiple lines of efforts to overturn the election. And some of those other lines of efforts, the president on the phone with a secretary of state in Georgia. pushing him to find 11,780 votes that don't exist. The president telling people, 'just say the election is corrupt. Let me and the Republican members of congress do the rest.' You know, that says that there are other actions beyond the violence of that day that need to be investigated and today it sounded like that is what the department is doing."
See the full interview below or at this link.
Adam Schiff responds to news DOJ is looking into attempt to overthrow the USwww.youtube.com
