DOJ Investigating Trump’s Actions as Part of Jan. 6 Criminal Probes

Chet Strange/Getty Images

The Department of Justice is investigating the actions of former President Donald Trump in connection with criminal investigations relating to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, the Washington Post reported Tuesday evening.

Citing “four people familiar with the matter,” the Post said prosecutors questioning witnesses before grand juries have inquired about conversations they’ve had with Trump. The witnesses include two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence.

The Post stated:

The prosecutors have asked hours of detailed questions about meetings Trump led in December 2020 and January 2021; his pressure campaign on Pence to overturn the election; and what instructions Trump gave his lawyers and advisers about fake electors and sending electors back to the states, the people said. Some of the questions focused directly on the extent of Trump’s involvement in the fake-elector effort led by his outside lawyers, including John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, these people said.

The report does not say Trump is the target of a criminal probe, but notes investigators are certainly interested in his behavior ahead of the storming of the Capitol. On that day, a mob of Trump supporters violently breached the Capitol and sought to stop Congress from certification Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

“The Washington Post and other news organizations have previously written that the Justice Department is examining the conduct of [John] Eastman, [Rudy] Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit,” said the report. “But the degree of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of senior Trump aides’ phone records.”

The Post said a Trump spokesman did not immediately oblige a request for comment.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!