First sign emerges that DOJ and January 6th Committee could be working together on takedown of Donald Trump
Three weeks ago it was reported that for several months now the Department of Justice has been investigating Sidney Powell’s fundraising antics in relation to the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. The news disproved the popular narrative that the DOJ was doing “nothing” about the leaders of the Big Lie. It also raised questions. For instance, why would the DOJ target just Powell for Big Lie fundraising, and no one else?
Then last night it was separately reported that the January 6th Committee is looking to make a criminal referral against Donald Trump for multiple crimes, one of which is wire fraud for fraudulently fundraising in relation to the Big Lie. This doesn’t sound like a coincidence.
It’s not clear how these pieces specifically fit together. Did the committee see the headline about the DOJ investigating Big Lie fundraising, and conclude that the DOJ might therefore be willing to indict Donald Trump for Big Lie fundraising? Or are the committee and the DOJ perhaps coordinating this together?
Keep in mind that when news leaks about a still-in-progress federal investigation, it’s usually just an isolated piece of the story. Would the DOJ really go after just Powell, a medium-sized player in the Big Lie, while ignoring everyone else who fraudulently fundraised on it? That wouldn’t make sense. The Powell news seemed to be a tip-off at the DOJ was looking to take down everyone who stuck their hand in the Big Lie cookie jar.
Has the DOJ specifically told the committee that it’s willing to target (or already in the process of targeting) Donald Trump for Big Lie fundraising? That would certainly explain what we’re seeing right now. The committee is also reportedly targeting Trump for obstruction of Congress when he encouraged a mob to disrupt the election certification. Obstruction is a lot like contempt, and we just saw the DOJ grant the committee’s request that Steve Bannon be indicted for contempt. So is it a coincidence that the committee is now going to ask the DOJ to indict Trump for obstruction?
For the moment all we’re left with is a growing number of questions. But the bottom line is that the January 6th Committee is now targeting Donald Trump for the same specific crime that we recently learned the DOJ already is targeting one of Trump’s associates for. It’s the first sign we’ve seen that the committee and the DOJ may now indeed be working together on some level. Let’s watch to see if there are more such signs going forward.
