WASHINGTON — Members of the federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power after his defeat in the 2020 election heard testimony from dozens of witnesses in a sweeping investigation that examined the former president’s conduct since before from Election Day to the Jan. 6 Attack on the US Capitol, according to an NBC News analysis.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to oversee investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to stay in power, has led an extensive investigation in the nearly eight months since so.
While a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 counts of seven federal counts in early June in connection with the document investigation and alleged efforts to obstruct it, a federal grand jury in Washington continued to meet on the third floor of E. Barrett. . Prettyman US Courthouse at the 2020 election inquiry.
Smith was charged with investigating any violation of the law in connection with efforts to “interfere with the lawful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote” on January 6, “as well as any matter that arises or could arise directly from this investigation”.
Pressing charges against Trump in connection with his Ellipse speech before the attack on the Capitol on January 6 was always going to present a challenge. Trump’s words are protected by the First Amendment, and his rhetoric—telling people in the crowd that “you’re not going to have a country anymore” if you don’t “fight like hell”—could fit into the realm of political rhetoric. heated. . Trump also explicitly told the crowd to march “peacefully,” which would make prosecutions even more difficult.
Instead, Smith’s team has investigated areas where there might be a clearer case of potentially illegal conduct. Called witnesses indicate the special counsel’s investigation has focused particularly on the “fake voters” scheme in which fake voter lists from states Trump lost would claim he won. Total, 84 false voters in seven swing states signed documents falsely declaring Trump the winner.
Reporters and producers regularly camp out in the courthouse lobby, watching the stairwells and elevators, trying to spot witnesses entering the grand jury area. Over the course of several months, Washington residents serving on the grand jury have heard testimony from witnesses ranging from little-known campaign aides to Secret Service agents to the former Vice President of the United States.
Mike Pence, the highest-profile witness to appear before the grand jury, testified in late April after a court order to comply with a subpoena, NBC News reported, just over a month before announcing he would challenge Trump over the presidency in 2024. Pence aides who were with him on Capitol Hill on January 6 also testified before a grand jury last summer, before Smith’s appointment. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, appeared in July 2022, according to a source familiar with his testimony, and various news outlets reported that Greg Jacob, Pence’s attorney, also testified; she declined to comment.
Earlier this month, NBC News reported that two of the “fake electors” appeared before the Washington grand jury; The testimony from him came the same day that Trump made his first court appearance in Miami.
Gary Michael Brown, the former deputy director of election day operations for the Trump campaign, also testified before the federal grand jury on June 22 and declined to comment to NBC News outside of courthouse. The January 6 committee said last year that it had found evidence that Brown was “aware of and engaged in efforts to promote unsubstantiated allegations of fraud in the November 2020 presidential election and encourage state legislators to tamper with the election.” result of the November 2020 election by, among other things, naming alternate voter lists to send competitive electoral votes to the United States Congress.” The committee got a text Brown dispatched other Trump campaign officials after he delivered the fake ballots to Congress the day before the Jan. 6 attack, which included a selfie of him in front of the Capitol.
The investigation began in earnest last year, when federal law enforcement officers from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official whom Trump considered making acting attorney general despite of his lack of experience in criminal law. . Court documents revealed that officers were at Clark’s home investigating possible charges of making false statements, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Federal agents also seized phones from four key promoters of Trump’s stolen election claims: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, whose phone was seized at a Hardee drive-thru; John Eastman, the Trump-aligned lawyer who pushed the debunked theory that Pence had the power to refuse to certify the election; Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser who was part of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s legal efforts to overturn the election results; and Rep. Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, who helped connect the White House with Clark.
In September 2022, before Smith took over the investigation, the Justice Department issued some 40 subpoenas, including to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who also worked with Giuliani’s legal team. , and Epshteyn, who recently met with the two-day special counsel, ABC news reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment on his reported appearance.
After Smith took office in November, his team subpoenaed officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking them to contact Trump, his campaign and others. 19 Trump associatesincluding Eastman, Giuliani, Justin Clark, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis.
Giuliani spoke with members of Smith’s special counsel team in recent weeks, as CNN first reported. Robert Costello, Giuliani’s attorney, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but a spokesman, Ted Goodman, confirmed that Giuliani and Costello had met with Smith’s team on a “completely voluntary” basis.
Other people who testified before the federal grand jury, received subpoenas, or spoke to investigators about January 6 and efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power include:
- Former White House attorneys Patrick Philbin and Pat Cipollone, who were due to testify in September and They were seen in court in December. Both men testified before the committee on January 6 and said they had opposed Eastman’s plan to have Pence refuse to certify the election because it was not legal.
- Former Trump White House officials Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, who was seen leaving the courthouse on May 2.
- Former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli, who told NBC News he had testified, and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, according to an ABC news article citing sources familiar with the matter. A Ratcliffe spokesman did not respond to a request for comment confirming Ratcliffe’s grand jury appearance.
- Ali Alexander, leader of “Stop the Steal,” whose group organized the demonstration that preceded the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Alexander confirmed on social media last June that he had testified before a federal grand jury.
- Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, according to CNN. Gingrich, who suggested in a Jan. 6 email cited by the committee that Trump could encourage Republican-led legislatures to refuse to send voters to certify his loss, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
- Steve Bannon, who was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress last year and sentenced to four months in federal prison, was served with a grand jury subpoena for testimony and documents in late May.
- About half a dozen Secret Service agents, who also testified before the federal grand jury, according to two sources familiar with their testimony.
- Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican who testified before the Jan. 6 committee about his refusal to endorse the fake voter plan, has spoken with federal prosecutors. The special counsel also subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state’s office.
- Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was asked by Trump to “find 11,780 votes.” Raffensperger spoke with investigators from Smith’s office on June 28.
Time is of the essence. Any impeachment arising from such a wide-ranging investigation would be complex, and the 2024 Republican presidential primary is underway.
daniel barnes, diana paulsen , laura jarrett and Garrett Haake contributed.
