On Thursday's edition of MSNBC's "The ReidOut," former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman outlined how the Justice Department still has work to do in outlining GOP strategist Roger Stone's lines of communication to the White House.
Stone, a notorious trickster whose involvement with extremist groups who helped execute the January 6 attack, was highlighted in the House January 6 Committee's final public hearing earlier in the day — but, said Akerman, the committee's information still leaves gaps.
"You talked about Donald Trump, where did the information go once the intelligence came in?" said anchor Joy Reid. "I'll tell you where it didn't seem to go is Congress, because Congress was completely unprepared. They were the potential victim and they had no idea it was coming, it seems clear from the video you saw. So they literally left the Congress and the vice president quite deliberately exposed to potential death."
"That was the whole point," said Akerman. "I mean, they wanted to stop that count. They wanted to stop the electoral count at all costs. And that was the point of the violence. I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked before about sedition, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, because those are two cases that have an amazing number of cooperating witnesses. All of whom dealt with Roger Stone, Donald Trump's chief political adviser, and it all goes right back to Donald Trump."
Ultimately, argued Akerman, the DOJ may already know more than the committee did about Stone, courtesy of White House officials.
"So we saw what the January 6th committee has. But we don't know what these cooperating witnesses have told the Department of Justice," said Akerman. "I mean, it's very likely that these people have a lot more knowledge about Donald Trump and exactly what his role was and what Roger Stone's role was as a conduit to Donald Trump. We have some tidbits out there from testimony from the summer, with Cassidy Hutchinson saying that Mark Meadows had called Roger Stone the night before. But we don't — there was no evidence today that really tied that together in a substantive way, but I think the Department of Justice may very well have that evidence."
Watch below:
Nick Akerman says DOJ can uncover Roger Stone's links to White Housewww.youtube.com
