Jan. 6 investigators found evidence they cannot ignore, says reporter
by Daniel Chaitin, Deputy News Editor |
| May 13, 2022 08:34 PM
Jan. 6 congressional investigators found evidence "they simply cannot ignore," which explains a wave of subpoenas against GOP lawmakers this week, a reporter said Friday.
Jackie Alemany, congressional investigations reporter for the Washington Post, said the "calculus" added up after the panel investigating the Capitol riot waited months to take the escalatory step against GOP colleagues, some of whom have panned the inquiry as a partisan exercise.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Mo Brooks of Alabama were the five members to be subpoenaed Thursday, and so far, no one has signaled that they plan to cooperate.
"I’m not sure the select committee believes that any of these members are actually going to appear," Alemany said during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "But what they communicated to reporters yesterday was after, really, months of deliberation, that they felt like they needed to give congressmen and House Minority Leader McCarthy — this full group — the opportunity to respond to evidence that they had found throughout the investigation. They had already issued voluntary requests for McCarthy, Scott Perry, [and] Jim Jordan months ago, actually at the end of last year, and had let those requests linger for quite some time."
The committee's investigators believe these lawmakers, who are close to former President Donald Trump, have valuable insight into the events on and around Jan. 6, the day rioters stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress, which was meeting to certify the 2020 election results.
"It is clear [that] along the way, they’ve found evidence that they simply cannot ignore that involves and indicts these lawmakers in some way, which is why you’re seeing them now escalate this and call them in via subpoenas," Alemany said.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/jan-6-investigators-found-evidence-they-cannot-ignore-says-reporter
