Jan. 6 Committee Rejects Justice Department’s Request For Witness Transcripts

The Justice Department requested transcripts from the January 6 House select committee in the widening of their probe into the Capitol attack, but the committee rejected their inquiry.

“They made a request, and we told them that as a committee, the product was ours, and we’re not giving anyone access to the work product. That would be premature at this point because we haven’t completed our work.” January 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) said on Tuesday.

“We can’t share it, the document, with them,” Thompson added. “Big difference … we can’t give them unilateral access.”

Thompson clarified that the Justice Department’s request would be granted if they wanted to come in and look at a few things, but that they would not be able to take their work to use in their investigation.

The Justice Department has widened its investigation into the planning of the “Stop the Steal” rally that proceeded the attack after being criticized for not taking more initiative to prosecute former President Donald Trump for what some believe was criminal activity. The Justice Department was unclear about whose interview transcripts they were seeking.

The January 6 committee has conducted over 1,000 interviews with people who may have insight into the attack.