Jan. 6 is looking 'more premeditated' — and 'it makes what Merrick Garland should do a lot clearer': legal expert
Speaking to MSNBC host Ari Melber on Monday, former acting-Solicitor General Neal Katyal suggested that it's time for Attorney General Merrick Garland to act on the big fish in the Jan. 6 cases.
The comments come after more information was revealed by the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. While hundreds have been interviewed, one former Mark Meadows aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, spoke with the committee on at least two occasions revealing what she overheard about warnings ahead of the attack.
"The White House all the way up to the White House staff, and undoubtedly [Donald] Trump had advanced knowledge of potential violence on Jan. 6," explained Katyal. "I mean, look, we know the Trump White House wasn't exactly known for its cracker-jack intelligence operations, but, you know, everyone who lives in D.C. knew there was a potential for violence on Jan. 6. And I think what today's revelations do is, it make what Garland should do a lot clearer."
He cited two examples, one being the text messages from Mark Meadows and Brad Raffensberger, which make it clear that the White House knew what it was doing.
"Merrick Garland's been sitting on the contempt referral for more than 100 days, passed by congress over Mark Meadows," said Katyal. "The evidence today just says, you've got to get the show on the road. The second thing to me, that your question gets to that's more important, it says something about what Garland has to do against Trump. This is looking so much more premeditated. The text today shows so many more people, and you flashed [a photo of] Don Jr. — there were so many people saying to the president's chief of staff, stop this. Stop this. And you and I talked in the past about the missing gap of seven hours for the phone logs. That's certainly important. But we're missing the gap of Donald Trump as president, and his activities during the three hours. And this is like some of the three most consequential hours we have ever had in the history of the United States, and I don't think Merrick Garland should quit. I don't think the committee should quit until they get a tick-tock of every minute Donald Trump spent on that day during these three hours."
Katyal went on to say that while Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called the Jan. 6 attack and the lead up to it a "coup," Katyal said that there were two kinds of coups. The first was the alternative electors, which he said was a lot like "alternative facts" and the other was the text messages.
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