Newly revealed grand jury subpoena shows the DOJ’s Donald Trump probe is way ahead of where we thought it was
When the DOJ sent the FBI to seize top secret classified documents that Donald Trump stole, it knew it was kicking over an ant hill. Once you make a provocative move like that, you pretty much have to keep plowing ahead at full speed until the job is done. The unsealed search warrant makes it pretty clear that the DOJ intends to indict Trump for espionage and obstruction. But what about the DOJ’s separate criminal probe into Trump’s fake elector scheme and January 6th crimes?
We’ve been wondering if the DOJ would decide to charge Trump sooner in the more straightforward classified documents investigation, and then bring additional charges down the road in the more complex 1/6-related investigation, or if the DOJ would wait until all of the charges are finally ready and then bring them all at once.
Now it turns out the DOJ’s probe into Trump’s 1/6-related crimes is in fact ahead of where we all thought. Way ahead. Back in May, the DOJ sent a “sweeping” grand jury subpoena to the National Archives, seeking Donald Trump’s daily schedule and phone logs leading up to January 6th, according to long time White House correspondent Brian Karem. If you’re wondering if this could be part of the classified documents scandal, the New York Times is confirming that it’s not; it’s the work of a separate probe. And given that records leading up to January 6th are being subpoenaed, it’s fairly obvious that this is the work of the DOJ’s 1/6-related Trump probe.
This means the DOJ’s 1/6 probe was actually pulling Trump’s phone logs and such before the January 6th public hearings began. So much for the DOJ being behind the January 6th Committee, or having been belatedly pressured into taking action by the committee’s findings.
We already know that in the months since the DOJ subpoenaed Trump’s phone logs and such, it’s gone on to have the likes of Pat Cipollone and Mike Pence’s senior staff testify to the grand jury about Trump’s 1/6-related actions. In other words, this testimony wasn’t a sign that the DOJ’s probe was finally kicking into high gear; the probe reached high gear months earlier.
It’s still anyone’s guess as to the timeframe the DOJ may be looking at for indicting Donald Trump. It could hypothetically be tomorrow or next year. But now that we know that the DOJ’s 1/6 Trump probe is several months ahead of where we thought it was, it certainly points to Trump being indicted sooner rather than later.
