According to the head investigator for the House committee looking into the January 6 riots, they were a part of a “multiple plot to impede the transition of power” after the 2020 General Election.
Former U.S. attorney Timothy Heaphy, who oversaw the investigation, said that he thinks the Department of Justice should also file charges against a number of Donald Trump loyalists, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Although Giuliani offered minimal information while pleading the Fifth during his appearance, Meadows never testified before the committee.
The House select committee spent months looking into Trump’s and his supporters’ role in riot-instigation and summoned on a number of people close to him to testify.
Heaphy claims that the DOJ will eventually select who to prosecute based on what further evidence they are able to get – beyond what was submitted to the House committee – even if some chose to keep quiet when summoned before the panel.
Heaphy kept mute during the panel’s 18-month probe, but in his first interview with the New York Times since the end of the congressional hearings on January 6, he has now spoken out.
As congress prepared to certify the results of the 2020 election, supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In the riot, five individuals died.
After months of baseless allegations that the election had been rigged against Trump and his friends, there was an uprising.
Heaphy explained to the Times how, in his opinion, the nation came dangerously close to losing democracy itself that day.
I sometimes failed to see how fragile democracy is. We may have had a different result if not for the bravery of a small group of individuals who chose principle over politics, going against their own self-interest. The people’s will may have been thwarted. We cannot take something for granted because it is terrifying.
Around a thousand persons were questioned by the Committee, and more than one million papers were examined. Heaphy said that the study rapidly resembled a criminal investigation.
“It begins to sound illegal when we witness purposeful activity, precise actions that seem to be intended to disrupt the joint session of Congress,” said one observer. Intent is the special counsel’s main focus. The more evidence we saw of the president’s desire to impede the transition of power and the efforts of people working with him, it seemed more and more like probable criminal activity.
Heaphy thinks the DOJ may still prosecute certain members of the inner circle of the former president Trump once the inquiry is finally complete.
A cast of characters is present. You may consider Mark Meadows and [Rudolph] Giuliani, in my opinion. If there was a conspiracy or agreement, I believe the Justice Department ought to investigate it thoroughly.
There is a ton of evidence that we were unable to get. Mr. Meadows did not visit us and speak with us. We did speak with Mr. Giuliani, but he often cited the attorney-client privilege. Every time, John Eastman asserted the Fifth Amendment.
Heaphy stated that the DOJ might bring charges against Jeffrey Clark and attorney John Eastman as well.
In his capacity as counsel to then-president Donald Trump, Eastman made the widely reported suggestion that vice president Mike Pence may reject the results of certain states’ elections.
Witnesses said that Clark, a senior DOJ employee in the Trump administration, was one of the few attorneys in the DOJ who was prepared to take action in response to Trump’s flimsy allegations of election fraud and pleas for assistance in reversing the results.
An claim of the attorney-client privilege or the executive privilege is allegedly overruled by or given priority over a criminal grand jury inquiry. I hope the grand jury is able to get the answers we were unable to, Heaphy told The Times.
I’m not sure how vast the conspiracy is. But, it could extend beyond even those individuals that we highlighted.
Heaphy described how the panel, by including 14 former federal prosecutors who were called in due to the scope of the task, broke new ground in comprehending what led to the Capitol siege.
It was unexpected to see early signs of the multifaceted plot to block the transfer of power taking form and coming together. The violence in the Capitol was well known around the globe. Heaphy remarked, realizing the severity of the job at hand, “But how we got there, and how meticulous and purposeful it was — this ratcheting up of pressure that finally results in the president inciting a crowd to interrupt the joint session — that was unique.”
Heaphy also mentioned how difficult it was to interview witnesses because they were concerned that their cooperation would come off as a “turncoat” after speaking.
There were times when we would interview a witness and, within 30 minutes, the NY Times writer Luke Broadwater would announce on television that the select committee had examined the witness, Heaphy said.
And it makes it really challenging because there have been instances when individuals have said, “My client would want to assist the committee, but she’s frightened that if she does, then she’ll instantly be outed as a turncoat.”
One complaint leveled at the committee was the fact that Vice President Mike Pence was never served with a subpoena and the committee didn’t summon President Trump until almost the conclusion of the sessions. Heaphy, though, explains the delay as only a phase of the investigation’s learning process.
Before you interview the most important witnesses in any investigation, you should gather as much information as you can. You go up the ladder, just as you would in a criminal investigation. You converse with folks who are more and more important. You lay a foundation by beginning at the bottom.
Several of the people who were asked to testify before the committee did not do so because they used their Fifth Amendment right not to do so.
It was more challenging for us to win people’s trust and confidence because of our public character and the scrutiny we worked under, according to Heaphy.
“I’m really happy that all of our transcripts have been made available.” If anybody believes that we have lied, masked, or withheld information, the evidence is clear. As the lead investigator, I wanted to ensure that we could support each and every claim made by a member or witness.
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