The Justice Department has informed former Trump administration officials that they can provide testimony to the various congressional committees that are investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a new report.
Witnesses called to provide testimony in the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee investigations can do so in an “unrestricted” way, per a letter from the DOJ sent earlier this week that was obtained by the New York Times.
“Department lawyers, including those who have since left, are obligated to protect nonpublic information they learned in the course of their work,” Bradley Weinsheimer, a top ranking official in the deputy attorney general’s office, wrote in a letter.
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“The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress,” he added.
The House Jan. 6 select committee is set to hold its first hearing on Tuesday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Democrats and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney to the committee and then refused to seat Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, citing past remarks.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all five of his committee recommendations after Pelosi rejected the duo. The speaker then appointed GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger to the committee. McCarthy labeled the pair “Pelosi Republicans.”
The former president, Donald Trump, was impeached in the House of Representatives for a second time following the Capitol riot for “incitement of insurrection.” He was acquitted in the Senate weeks after thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol as members of Congress sought to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
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Since then, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election was stolen from him, though dozens of lawsuits that sought to overturn the election results failed, various states conducted recounts to affirm the results, and local and federal government officials issued statements to the contrary.
