Wonder no more. The Department of Justice is investigating former president Donald Trump for potential criminal liability relating to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Yesterday The Washington Post reported that a federal grand jury has heard detailed testimony about Trump’s actions following the election through to the January 6 insurrection and beyond. Its focus centres upon allegations of seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official government proceeding, and fraud related to the fake electors plot.
If indicted, Trump would be the first US president charged with a crime. Richard Nixon, who was named an unindicted co-conspirator for his role in the Watergate scandal, was pardoned by Gerald Ford after he resigned to spare the nation a trial.
Federal grand jury proceedings are secret. However, witnesses are not bound by this requirement and may disclose their appearance and evidence if they choose.
Two of Mike Pence’s most senior aides, former chief of staff Marc Short and legal counsel Greg Jacob, testified before the grand jury last week. Both men have also been interviewed by the House January 6 Committee. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, whose appearance before the committee provided crucial insight into Trump’s conduct and the reactions of senior staff, is also cooperating with DOJ’s investigation.
DOJ personnel have been reviewing phone records of key administration officials, including Meadows, since April. This predates the committee’s public hearings and establishes that DOJ has been running a parallel probe for many months at least. Given that the department planned to hire 131 additional lawyers to help prosecute hundreds of offenders in March, this should be no surprise. High-profile raids in June on Trump lawyers Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman indicate it is closing in on the former president.
This should put to rest fears that the DOJ has been asleep at the wheel, until pressure from the January 6 Committee’s public hearings roused it from its slumber. It should also allay concerns that prosecutors would punish the little fish, but let the ringleaders walk. The committee and the department are not in competition. They are pursuing the same ends. To the extent that the committee unearths additional witnesses and evidence, this only strengthens the DOJ’s hand.
Federal prosecutors have a tried-and-tested method to unravel large-scale conspiracies. It’s a technique used repeatedly to dismantle organised crime gangs and incarcerate the kingpins. They start at the bottom of the hierarchy, seeking cooperation from low-level operatives in exchange for leniency. As they move up the chain of command, prospective targets are faced with the prisoner’s dilemma. Do they hold out and hope their fellow crooks do the same, or flip to save their hides?
In a pre-recorded interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, aired last night, US Attorney General Merrick Garland reinforced the DOJ’s commitment to prosecuting all the perpetrators, at any level. “We will hold accountable anyone who was criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the legitimate, lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next.”
Before he was attorney general, before he was a jilted Supreme Court nominee, before he served 24 years as a judge of the US Court of Appeals, Garland made his reputation overseeing DOJ prosecutions. In particular he supervised several prominent domestic terrorist cases, including the Unabomber, the Atlanta Olympics bombing, and the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and wounded 650 more in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Each time those responsible were convicted for their crimes.
Donald Trump boasted that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters. That may be true. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be prosecuted for it.
Soon he may have to answer for his real crimes. Let justice be done.
