The House Jan. 6 committee on Wednesday released 34 transcripts of witness testimony, a day prior to the expected release of the panel’s highly-anticipated full report on the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
The transcripts are the first to be made public from among the roughly 1,000 interviews the panel conducted over the past 18 months of its investigation.
“Today, the Select Committee made public 34 transcripts of witness testimony that was gathered over the course of the Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol,” the panel announced.
Fifth Amendment Cited
During the interviews, most of the 34 witnesses did not answer questions during all or at least part of their testimony, instead opting to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Some witnesses, such as Stone, had cited his Fifth Amendment right for straightforward questions such as age and address.The panel did not explicitly state why it decided to release the transcripts of these 34 individuals prior to releasing the full report.
Trump, Others Referred to DOJ
The Jan. 6 committee had on Dec. 19 voted unanimously to refer Trump to the Department of Justice for potential federal prosecution over four proposed criminal charges: insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, making a false statement to the federal government, and conspiracy to defraud the federal government.Besides Trump, the committee referred several other Trump associates to the DOJ for criminal investigations. The referrals for Trump and others have no legal weight, which means the DOJ is not obliged to act on the recommendations.
Counter Report on Jan. 6
The 34 transcripts’ release comes on the same day that a group of five House Republicans published a separate counter report (pdf) that focused on the security failures at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The report is led by incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).The five lawmakers who released the report were those initially chosen by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for the Jan. 6 committee. But they were pulled from consideration after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to seat two of them.