WASHINGTON – Federal grand juries probing Donald Trump’s attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power after his loss in the 2020 election have heard testimony from dozens of witnesses in a wide-ranging investigation that has examined the conduct of the former president from before Election Day until the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to an analysis by NBC News.
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 office, has led a sprawling investigation over the nearly eight months later
While a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 counts of seven federal charges in early June related to the documents probe and alleged efforts to obstruct it, a federal grand jury in Washington has continued to meet on the third floor of the E. Barrett. Prettyman US Courthouse in 2020 election investigation.
Smith was charged with investigating any violations 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 arose. or might arise directly from this investigation.”
Bringing charges against Trump in connection with his speech on the Ellipse before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was always going to be a challenge. Trump’s words are protected by the First Amendment, and his rhetoric — telling people in the crowd that they “wouldn’t have a country anymore” if they didn’t “fight like hell” — could fall within the scope of the heated political rhetoric. . Trump also explicitly told the crowd to leave “peacefully,” which would make charges even more difficult.
Instead, Smith’s team investigated areas where there might be a clearer case of potentially illegal conduct. Called witnesses indicate that the special counsel’s investigation has particularly focused on the “fake voter” scheme in which fake electoral rolls from states Trump lost would claim he won. In total, 84 fake voters in seven swing states signed documents falsely declaring Trump the winner.
Reporters and producers regularly camp out in the courthouse lobby, watching the stairwell 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 most prominent 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 he announced he would challenge Trump to the presidency in 2024. Two of Also Pence’s aides who were with him at the Capitol on January 6 witnessed 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 media reported that Greg Jacob, Pence’s attorney, also witnessed; declined to comment.
Earlier this month, NBC News reported that two of the “fake voters” appeared before a grand jury in Washington; his testimony came on the same day 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 a federal grand jury on June 22 and declined to comment to NBC News outside court. The committee said on Jan. 6 that it had found evidence last year that Brown was “aware of and engaged in efforts to promote unsupported allegations of fraud in the November 2020 presidential election and encourage state lawmakers to alter the outcome of the November 2020 election to, among other things, appoint slates of alternate electors to send competitive electoral votes to the United States Congress.” the committee got a text message Brown sent other Trump campaign officials after he delivered the fake ballots to Congress the day before the Jan. 6 attack, which included a selfie of himself in front of the Capitol.
The investigation began in earnest last year, when federal law enforcement officials from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former DOJ official whom Trump he considered acting attorney general despite 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 the phones of four key promoters of Trump’s stolen election claims: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, whose phone was seized at a Hardee’s drive-thru; John Eastman, the Trump-aligned lawyer who pushed the discredited theory that Pence had the power to refuse to certify the election; Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser who was part of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s legal efforts to overturn the election results; and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, who helped connect the White House with Clark.
In September 2022, before Smith took over the investigation, the Justice Department issued about 40 subpoenas, including to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who also worked with the team Giuliani’s legal team, and Epshteyn, who recently met with the special counsel for two people. days, 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 over in November, his team subpoenaed officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with Trump, his campaign and Trump’s involvement. 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 reported. Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer, 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 “in full voluntary”.
Other people who have testified before the federal grand jury, received subpoenas or spoken to investigators about Jan. 6 and efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power include:
Former White House counsels Patrick Philbin and Pat Cipollone, who were due to testify in September and were spotted in court in December. Both men testified before the committee on Jan. 6, saying they had objected to 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 court 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 that cited knowledgeable sources on the subject. A spokesman for Ratcliffe did not respond to a request for comment to confirm Ratcliffe’s appearance before the grand jury. “Stop the Steal” leader Ali Alexander, whose group organized the rally 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 might encourage Republican-led legislatures to refuse to send electors to certify his loss, did not respond to NBC’s request for comment. News. Steve Bannon, who was found guilty. of two counts of contempt of Congress last year and sentenced to four months in federal prison, received a grand jury subpoena for testimony and documents in late May. About half a dozen Secret Service agents also testified before the federal grand jury, he said. two sources familiar with his testimony. Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican who testified before the committee Jan. 6 about his refusal to support the fraudulent voter scheme, has spoken with federal prosecutors. The special counsel also subpoenaed the Arizona Secretary of State’s office. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked to only “find 11,780 votes.” Raffensperger spoke with investigators from Smith’s office on June 28.
Time is of the essence. Any indictment to come out of such a broad investigation would be complex, and the 2024 Republican presidential primary is underway.
Daniel Barnes, Diana Paulsen, Laura Jarrett and Garrett Haake contributed.
