Maggie Haberman Says Criminal Probe Making ‘Steady Movement Toward Former President Trump’

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman said the January 6 criminal investigation is making “steady movement toward” former President Donald Trump after several recent developments.

On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN’s New Day, Haberman joined co-anchors John Berman and Brianna Keilar to discuss the news that Attorney General Merrick Garland‘s probe has been asking witnesses about Trump’s actions around the attack on the Capitol — reporting which Haberman confirmed with her own sources.

While Haberman was careful to say we don’t know that Trump is the target of Garland’s investigation, she saw the new reporting as “very significant”:

JOHN BERMAN: I do want to ask about your reporting that as part of this grand jury investigation, that these witnesses have been asked specifically about Donald Trump and his actions. This is something that’s new. Look, we didn’t even know that they were calling witnesses from within the White House a few days ago. Now we know they’re having witnesses and they’ve been asking about Trump. The significance?

MAGGIE HABERMAN: Look, John, it certainly gets it closer to former President Trump. It doesn’t, I want to be clear on this. We don’t know that there’s a specific investigation into Donald Trump, but all of these investigations relate to things that either he helped put in motion or encouraged. And so these are witnesses who are being asked about conversations with him. It does suggest that the DOJ is moving closer to the former president. It does suggest that they are taking very seriously examining all aspects of this. I think the phone records piece too, John, is very significant. I think this looks at who was talking to whom, exactly what was taking place around that time. You know, I think all of this, you know, just suggests, again, that there is steady movement toward former President Trump. What that looks like, as you say, it would be unprecedented if there was an actual indictment. But there is definitely an investigation underway.

BRIANNA KEILAR: Because if you’re going to walk backwards from an indictment, obviously DOJ would have to be looking at President Trump’s conduct around or on January 6. But at the same time, it’s been a long time coming that they would have gotten to this point, Maggie.

MAGGIE HABERMAN: Look, they’ve been very methodical about what they’ve been doing, Brianna. I think that we have seen that. It certainly is 18 months. And I think, you know, since since the the riot at the Capitol on January 6. And I don’t think a ton of information has changed about that. But I think that, as you saw Garland say, this investigation is unprecedented in scope. They’re looking not just at what was taking place in the White House, but how those various pieces overlap with the rioters. If they do, how the pieces overlap with this, you know, so-called fake electors scheme. And so I think that they are looking at how these various pieces of the puzzle fit together and how those pieces relate to Donald Trump specifically.

JOHN BERMAN: Yeah, and we’ve use careful language, Maggie. We’re not saying they’re investigating the president, or we know that. You’re not saying that. But there is reporting now that they are asking about things that he was involved in. And that’s different, very different than we knew at least even a few days ago.

Watch above via CNN.