Yes, there are signs of life at Merrick Garland’s DOJ
Yes, there might be an actual sign that the Merrick Garland DOJ is actively investigating the larger plan to overturn democracy.
Recent activity reveals that the DOJ is actively pursuing January 6th activities beyond the insurrectionists at the Capitol. It now looks like the investigation is reaching the larger scheme to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election, including investigating persons higher up the food chain, possibly and hopefully Trump himself.
The scope of the criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington has expanded into the attempts to employ “fake electors” to try and overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
A public records request resulted in the release of copies of two subpoenas issued to Republican state senators from Arizona in June, confirming what had already been reported in the media
In addition, correspondence “related to any endeavor, plan, or attempt to act as an Elector” in support of the then-president and then-vice president are sought in the summons sent to Sen. Kelly Townsend and Karen Fann, president of the Arizona Senate.
A subpoena is a request for information that prosecutors feel would be useful in their case. The documents that were made public on show a wide net cast for the communications that any official or agent of the federal government, as well as with supporters and aides of Trump.
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding and preceding the assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to reverse the election results on January 6, 2021, has significantly increased and expanded. The subpoenas are just one aspect of this. Federal agents spread out in a number of states at around the same time in mid-June to serve subpoenas, carry out search warrants, and speak with prospective witnesses as part of the investigation into the electors fraud.
On a seperate front, according to a source familiar with the situation a grand jury in Washington looking into January 6 heard evidence on Friday from Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Pence. The first to report on Short’s grand jury presence was ABC News. He gave his testimony on the same day that a federal courtroom jury found longtime Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of Congress for withholding evidence from the congressional inquiry committee on January 6.
The subpoenas to Fann and Townsend also ask for any interactions they had with a number of Arizona GOP leaders who either assisted in compiling a list of electors who supported Trump or were on such a list.
According to Townsend, who served as the elections committee’s chair, the legislature “has plenary authority and responsibility to send the correct slate, and because it was in question, we wanted to have an alternate slate in case fraud was discovered and found,” so she made an effort to launch an investigation.
She said on Monday that she spoke to Giuliani over the phone a couple of times in December 2020 but that she no longer had the phone used for those conversations. She said that she had informed the FBI of the nature of the calls.
John Eastman, a Trump attorney, had suggested putting out fresh slates of “Trump electors” to challenge the electors in crucial states like Arizona, which Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020. The fact that even GOP controlled state legislatures rejected the plan contributed to its failure.
Garland made a rare statement regarding the January 6 investigation. Here is the clip below: