DOJ Admits It Has 30 GB of Data not Publicly Released by Jan. 6 Committee

The Department of Justice building in Washington on Feb. 9, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Justice admitted in a recent court filing that it has about 30 gigabytes (GB) worth of data not publicly disclosed by the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol breach.

The Department of Justice disclosed the existence of the 30 GB of previously unreleased data in an ongoing court case to prosecute eight defendants for their alleged involvement in the Capitol breach. The eight defendants had requested to postpone their trial, with a request for more time to review the evidence that the government had recently turned over.

As part of their response to the defense request, the prosecutors said the 30 GB related to the testimonies of approximately 255 witnesses who testified for the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee. Prosecutors noted that the interview transcripts of these 255 witnesses were previously released by the committee, but those transcripts contained redactions, and exhibits to those transcripts had not been previously released.

“Much of that data consists of voluminous records produced to the committee and appended to certain transcripts,” prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said they had provided the unredacted versions of transcripts from the 255 witnesses but are in the process of reviewing other materials.

“While the government’s review of these materials is ongoing, it has thus far located only about a dozen witnesses who provided information about the individuals and actions at issue in this case and its related cases,” prosecutors said. “The government’s preliminary review of the materials has not revealed much beyond the transcripts of these dozen witnesses that appears relevant to the issues likely to arise in this trial.”

While the prosecution indicated much of the unreleased 30 GB of data won’t be entirely related to the specific case of these eight defendants, it could provide the public with a greater understanding of the totality of the events that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In its filing, the prosecution indicated it wishes to proceed with the trial even while its process of reviewing and handing over potentially relevant evidence is ongoing.

With respect to global discovery, “Defendants are correct that this process is ongoing. To continue this trial until that process is complete, however, would practically amount to an indefinite continuance,” prosecutors wrote.

Data Allegedly Contains Texts From Pence, Ivanka Trump, Others

It is unclear what the unreleased data contains, but according to Politico, some of the data includes text communications between several key figures in President Donald Trump’s administration.

The publication reported that text messages from Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, were among the unreleased records. The Jan. 6 committee had referenced those text messages in their interview with her.

The unreleased information also reportedly contained text messages between then-Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), which the Jan. 6 committee also referenced in one of its hearings.

Other unreleased materials included text messages between committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson and several key figures in the Trump administration. Hutchinson had testified that Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had told her in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, that “things might get real, real bad on January 6.”

Hutchinson also testified that Trump had lunged for the steering wheel as he was being driven away by the U.S. Secret Service after he gave a speech at the Ellipse (an area of President’s Park near the White House) on Jan. 6, 2021.

Following Hutchinson’s testimony about Trump’s alleged scuffle with the Secret Service, a source close to the Secret Service reportedly told NBC’s Peter Alexander that lead Secret Service agent Bobby Engel and the presidential limousine driver were prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.

According to Politico, Engel’s witness transcript was among the 30 GB of materials the Department of Justice has.

From NTD News