Federal prosecutors requested a delay in the proceedings in the seditious conspiracy case against the far-right Proud Boys group as a result of the conflict between the parallel congressional investigation and the US justice department’s criminal investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack.
Although the Justice Department and a House Select Committee were both pursuing the same issue, the two inquiries from January 6 had largely avoided colliding. However, everything culminated on Wednesday.
At a hearing in federal court in Washington, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, Henry Tarrio, AKA Enrique Tarrio, and other prominent members of the far-right group were scheduled to go on trial in August. Federal prosecutors and defendants in the justice department’s seditious conspiracy case asked a federal judge to postpone the trial date.
Trump’s constant pressure on the justice department will be the focus of a panel on January 6th.
Erik Kenerson, an assistant US attorney, wrote on Tuesday that it is “reasonably foreseeable” that information pertinent to the defendants’ guilt (or innocence) may soon be made public. All parties may suffer harm if they are unable to adequately prepare their cases.
Assisting attorneys general Kenneth Polite and Matthew Olsen, as well as US attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, complained in a letter last week that they were unable to access transcripts, which was preventing them from conducting criminal investigations, including in the Proud Boys case.
It is “reasonably foreseeable,” according to Erik Kenerson, an assistant US attorney, that material pertaining to the defendants’ guilt (or innocence) may soon be made public. If the parties cannot fully prepare their claims, all parties may be harmed.
US district judge Timothy Kelly “reluctantly” granted the request, agreeing that the select committee’s report and witness transcripts, which are scheduled to be made public in September, could throw the preparations off course. He said the trial will now begin in December.
Justice Department federal prosecutors are constrained by strict guidelines requiring high standards of proof before they can issue subpoenas and gather evidence because the department is conducting a criminal investigation.
In contrast, the select committee, which is conducting a congressional investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Capitol attack, has the authority to issue subpoenas whenever it sees fit, as long as a majority of its members agrees.
As a result, the panel now has more than 1,000 transcripts of secret depositions taken with significant witnesses related to the January 6 inquiries; however, the panel had previously declined to share some of these transcripts, which the justice department believes are pertinent to its cases.
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Matthew Graves, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, and assistant attorneys general Kenneth Polite and Matthew Olsen complained in a letter last week that they were unable to access transcripts, which was preventing them from conducting criminal investigations, including in the Proud Boys case.
“The department’s ability to investigate and prosecute those who engaged in criminal conduct in relation to the January 6 attack on the Capitol” is made more difficult because the select committee refused to give the department access to these transcripts, they claimed in the letter.
