Tensions rise between DOJ, Jan. 6 panel
by Rebecca Beitsch and Harper Neidig - 05/21/22 9:13 AM ET
After weeks of airing concerns the Justice Department may not be moving aggressively enough to prosecute former President Trump and others in his orbit, lawmakers on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack met the department’s request for assistance with an interesting response: Not so fast.
The Justice Department has asked the committee to share some of its materials, sending a letter noting that some of its work “may contain information relevant to a criminal investigation we are conducting.”
But the committee has said it won’t directly turn over what it’s got, suggesting it would provide only a more narrow level of assistance.
It’s the latest sign of inter-branch tension between the two investigations which, despite their overlapping interests, have stressed their independence of one another.
Jeff Robbins, an attorney now in private practice who has served as both a federal prosecutor and a Senate investigative counsel, says while both branches are seeking accountability over the events surrounding Jan. 6, each entity has different goals in mind.
“I can say broadly that the traditional tension between congressional investigative committees and the Department of Justice … about witnesses is that they have different interests,” Robbins said. “The Department of Justice wants to be in a position to prosecute people or to potentially prosecute people and the congressional committees want to be able to stage hearings that lay out for the American people what happened in a way that is designed to grab and keep the attention of the media and the American people.”
more
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3495040-tensions-rise-between-doj-jan-6-panel/
