Agents investigating the events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol tried to question William Russell, who served as a special assistant to the former president.
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The F.B.I. sought an interview with William Russell, an aide to Donald J. Trump, in an investigation into the events leading up to the Jan 6. riot at the Capitol.
The F.B.I. sought to interview a personal aide to former President Donald J. Trump in connection with the federal investigation into the events leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, two people familiar with the matter said.
The move suggests that federal agents have expanded the pool of people from whom they are seeking information in the wide-ranging criminal investigation into efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse his loss in the 2020 election and that agents are moving closer to people in the former president’s direct orbit.
This week, F.B.I. agents in Florida tried to interview William S. Russell, a 31-year-old aide to Mr. Trump who served as a special assistant and the deputy director of advance in the White House and continued to work for Mr. Trump as a personal aide after he left office, one of a small group of officials who did so.
It was not immediately clear what questions the F.B.I. wanted to ask Mr. Russell; people familiar with the Justice Department’s inquiry said he has not yet been interviewed. But a person with knowledge of the F.B.I.’s interest said that it related to the grand jury investigation into events that led to the Capitol attack by Mr. Trump’s supporters.
That investigation is said to have focused extensively on the attempts by some of Mr. Trump’s advisers and lawyers to create slates of fake electors from swing states. Mr. Trump and his allies wanted Vice President Mike Pence to block or delay certification of the Electoral College results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to allow consideration of Trump electors whose votes could have changed the outcome.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
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Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Making a case against Trump. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is laying out a comprehensive narrative of President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Here are the main themes that have emerged so far from eight public hearings:
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
An unsettling narrative. During the first hearing, the committee described in vivid detail what it characterized as an attempted coup orchestrated by the former president that culminated in the assault on the Capitol. At the heart of the gripping story were three main players: Mr. Trump, the Proud Boys and a Capitol Police officer.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Creating election lies. In its second hearing, the panel showed how Mr. Trump ignored aides and advisers as he declared victory prematurely and relentlessly pressed claims of fraud he was told were wrong. “He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff,” William P. Barr, the former attorney general, said of Mr. Trump during a videotaped interview.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Pressuring Pence. Mr. Trump continued pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to go along with a plan to overturn his loss even after he was told it was illegal, according to testimony laid out by the panel during the third hearing. The committee showed how Mr. Trump’s actions led his supporters to storm the Capitol, sending Mr. Pence fleeing for his life.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Fake elector plan. The committee used its fourth hearing to detail how Mr. Trump was personally involved in a scheme to put forward fake electors. The panel also presented fresh details on how the former president leaned on state officials to invalidate his defeat, opening them up to violent threats when they refused.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Strong arming the Justice Dept. During the fifth hearing, the panel explored Mr. Trump’s wide-ranging and relentless scheme to misuse the Justice Department to keep himself in power. The panel also presented evidence that at least half a dozen Republican members of Congress sought pre-emptive pardons.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
The surprise hearing. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, delivered explosive testimony during the panel’s sixth session, saying that the president knew the crowd on Jan. 6 was armed, but wanted to loosen security. She also painted Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, as disengaged and unwilling to act as rioters approached the Capitol.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
Planning a march. Mr. Trump planned to lead a march to the Capitol on Jan. 6 but wanted it to look spontaneous, the committee revealed during its seventh hearing. Representative Liz Cheney also said that Mr. Trump had reached out to a witness in the panel’s investigation, and that the committee had informed the Justice Department of the approach.
Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 Hearings
A “complete dereliction” of duty. In the final public hearing of the summer, the panel accused the former president of dereliction of duty for failing to act to stop the Capitol assault. The committee documented how, over 187 minutes, Mr. Trump had ignored pleas to call off the mob and then refused to say the election was over even a day after the attack.
A lawyer for Mr. Russell did not respond to a message seeking comment.
It was not immediately clear which of Mr. Trump’s other aides the Justice Department may be interested in interviewing. Last week, the former White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and his former deputy, Patrick Philbin, testified before the grand jury investigating the fake elector scheme and related issues.
Both Mr. Cipollone and Mr. Philbin were present during key conversations in the White House as Mr. Trump sought to use the levers of the federal government to stay in office after his loss to Joseph R. Biden Jr.
That effort included legal challenges to the outcomes in a number of states, consideration of proposals to seize voting machines and pressure on the Justice Department to investigate baseless claims of election fraud. As Jan. 6 and the certification of the Electoral College vote neared, the effort focused on pressuring Mr. Pence to use his ceremonial role overseeing the joint session of Congress on that day to give Mr. Trump another chance to reverse the outcome — pressure that Mr. Pence rejected.
Mr. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and his former general counsel, Greg Jacob, have both appeared before the grand jury.
Thomas Windom, a federal prosecutor, is coordinating key elements of the Justice Department’s intensifying investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. So far, there are no clear signs that the department’s Jan. 6 investigation has reached a stage where officials would be close to deciding whether to charge Mr. Trump.
An F.B.I. spokesman in Florida did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The Justice Department is pursuing the Jan. 6-related investigation as it investigates the handling of hundreds of classified documents that Mr. Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago, his residence and private club in Florida, where Mr. Russell also works.
Last month, the F.B.I. and Justice Department executed a court-approved search warrant at the club, recovering scores of classified documents. On Monday, a federal judge in Florida approved of appointing an independent arbiter, known as a special master, to examine the government documents seized from the former president.
Source: nytimes.com
