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Capitol Insurrection Crime The Trump Adminstration

Jan. 6 Committee Has Found A Way Around The Stonewalling Of Former Trump Staffers

Some former staffers who served in the Trump administration have been more than a bit truculent when it comes to cooperating with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, despite the fact that they have been subpoenaed to do so and still face criminal contempt charges for failing to obey a legal subpoena.

But despite the recalcitrance of people such as former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to show up and testify, the committee has still found a way to get inside the offices of those former officials with a brilliant workaround, according to Politico:

Some of the select panel’s most crucial information has come from Trumpworld staffers, who were often in the room or briefed on sensitive meetings, even if they weren’t central players themselves. It’s a classic investigative strategy that’s paid dividends for select committee investigators, many of whom are seasoned former federal prosecutors.

Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) notes that staffers have been instrumental and shining a light on what their former bosses were doing behind the scenes to try and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election:

“We are definitely taking advantage of the fact that most senior-level people in Washington depend on a lot of young associates and subordinates to get anything done. A lot of these people still have their ethics intact and don’t want to squander the rest of their careers for other people’s mistakes and corruption.”

Among the most notable staffers who have provided invaluable information to the committee are “Cassidy Hutchinson, a close adviser to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Ken Klukowski, who advised former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, have helped the select committee fill in gaps about Trump’s private meetings, calls and efforts to overturn the 2020 election that investigators could otherwise only obtain from the principal players themselves.”

That level of cooperation by those who worked for Meadows, Steve Bannon, and other top Trump officials makes committee members optimistic that they’ll be able to paint a full picture of who did what in the leadup to the violent storming of the Capitol that resulted in the deaths of five people, including a member of the Capitol Police Force.

Having as much detail as possible is essential as the select committee prepares to being public hearings in June, a move that could well seal the fate of several Trump staffers such as Meadows who were allegedly key players in the failed coup attempt, according to Raskin:

“Washington is a place where decision-makers will make decisions but it takes a staff to execute and implement them. Those people are not bound by the kinds of compromising political allegiances that their bosses are.”

Sounds like Meadows, Bannon, and even failed, one-term former President Donald Trump should be very worried.

 

By Andrew Bradford

Proud progressive journalist and political adviser living behind enemy lines in Red America.

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