‘Amazing To See’: CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Says Flurry Of News In Trump Probe Follows Jan. 6 Committee ‘Roadmap’
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins observed that the flurry of new developments in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of ex-President Donald Trump closely follows the “roadmap” of the January 6 committee.
This week saw new reporting on several fronts, including the news that Smith’s probe has interviewed secretaries of state from New Mexico and Pennsylvania, as well as figures like Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins noted the track with the Jan 6 committee, calling it “amazing to see,” and asked that committee’s chairman, Adam Kinzinger, for his analysis of where this is going:
COLLINS: And Congressman, learning that Hope Hicks and Jared Kushner got interviewed, last month, by Jack Smith’s team, and looking back at what they said, to your committee? It’s kind of amazing to see how closely of a roadmap of what the January 6 committee did —
ADAM KINZINGER: Yes.
COLLINS: — that the Justice Department is clearly following?
KINZINGER: Yes, look, I think this was kind of my sense, after our first big hearing, in the summer, where it was like, “Oh, wow, they have some stuff. They know some things.”
It seems like then, the Department of Justice actually started their investigation. That’s when you started to hear that they were subpoenaing people that there was an investigation into this. I think, my feeling is, that they actually kind of were trying to maybe start with some of the low-hanging fruit, see what they could build up, maybe avoid prosecuting that.
And — but yes, it appears who they’re talking to, is everybody we talked to, except let me add one thing to their advantage. We can subpoena somebody. If they don’t come, we can try to have DOJ hit them with a criminal complaint for that. DOJ actually has a lot more power to do that than we do. And so, these people aren’t going to be able to resist. And they can also use immunity, which we chose not to use.
COLLINS: Do you think that they waited too long to start with their investigation?
KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, obviously, not being in the halls of DOJ, I don’t know, for sure. But we’re two years after this, now, two and a half years. I think this should have started day one. This was a threat against the U.S. government, against democracy.
And now — I don’t think it’s Jack Smith’s fault. But now we’re at a point, where we’re actually into election season. And you know, Donald, he’s already saying it, is going to say, “Well, they’re just coming after me because of my politics.”
COLLINS: But can I counter that? Because what a Justice Department official would likely say, if they were sitting here, is that your committee took too long, to hand over transcripts and interviews. Should the committee have handed over everything sooner?
KINZINGER: There was — there’s a lot of details on that in terms of — because if we hand it over, then defense has discovery, and it had to do with it — they could have pursued their own legal track, at the exact same time.
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
