Now that the Justice Department is investigating Donald Trump for stealing classified documents and possibly violating the Espionage Act, a new subpoena suggests the DOJ is investigating his role in the Capitol insurrection and scheme to overthrow democracy as well.
It was only last week that the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago to retrieve boxes of classified documents Trump illegally took with him when he left the White House in January 2021. Reportedly among the materials seized by the FBI include nuclear weapons documents and signals intelligence, the possession of both being major breaches of national security.
But as Trump continues to desperately smear the FBI and DOJ, a new subpoena is only increasing his legal troubles. As it turns out, the DOJ is asking the House January 6th Committee for all the materials received from the National Archives surrounding Trump’s involvement with the Capitol insurrection and his attempt to overturn the 2020 Election.
According to the New York Times:
“Federal prosecutors investigating the role that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies played in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have issued a grand jury subpoena to the National Archives for all the documents the agency provided to a parallel House select committee inquiry. The subpoena, issued to the National Archives in May, made a sweeping demand for ‘all materials, in whatever form’ that the archives had given to the Jan. 6 House committee. Those materials included records from the files of Mr. Trump’s top aides, his daily schedule and phone logs and a draft text of the president’s speech that preceded the riot.”
While the subpoena is not related to the search of Mar-a-Lago, it’s apparently the next step of the DOJ investigation of January 6th, which had focused primarily on the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol that day. Prosecutors are finally taking aim at the ringleaders, including Trump, and believe they may have committed crimes as the committee has highlighted over several primetime hearings.
“Asking the National Archives for any White House documents pertaining to the events surrounding Jan. 6 was one of the first major steps the House panel took in its investigation,” the report noted. “And the grand jury subpoena suggests that the Justice Department has not only been following the committee’s lead in pursuing its inquiry, but also that prosecutors believe evidence of a crime may exist in the White House documents the archives turned over to the House panel.”
Republicans should be distancing themselves from Trump, but so many of them continue to support him that it’s worth wondering why. They obviously feel like he’s their only chance to escape potential prosecution for their own infractions, especially the several Republicans who sought pardons before Trump left office.
If Trump goes to prison, they don’t get their pardons. The DOJ would be wise to start looking closer at these Republicans. After all, Trump will need company in prison.
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