Dozens of allies and supporters of former President Donald Trump invoked their constitutional right to not answer questions posed by the House committee investigating the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, according to transcripts released Wednesday night.
(Bloomberg) — Dozens of allies and supporters of former President Donald Trump invoked their constitutional right to not answer questions posed by the House committee investigating the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, according to transcripts released Wednesday night.
Campaign strategist Roger Stone, for example, asserted his right to remain silent even for questions about his age and place of residence.
Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and Trump’s first national security advisor, was pardoned by the then-president after pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US. In the Jan. 6 investigation, used his right to remain silent.
Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide, asserted his right when asked how he got his job at the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
The first batch witness testimony released by the committee came after the panel delayed until Thursday publication of its final report on the assault by Trump supporters trying to thwart the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The committee, which has pledged to release hundreds of transcripts, interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and collected more than 1 million pieces of communications and other evidence, some of which investigators reveal in the questions.
Among the 34 transcripts released Thursday are those stemming from interviews of other marquee names in the Trump circle, including John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who promoted the legal theory that then-vice president Mike Pence had the authority to refuse to count Biden votes from battleground states.
At one point, committee member Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, asked Eastman to clarify, “You’re asserting the Fifth as to whether or not you’re refusing to answer questions just about all of your actions, or also about the ideas you have about the Electoral College. Is that right?”
Eastman replied, “Yes, I’m asserting the Fifth.”
Radio provocateur Alex Jones was asked repeatedly about his contact with Trump or right-wing groups such as the Oath Keepers and he replied over and over “On advice of counsel I’m asserting my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.”
He took the Fifth Amendment nearly 100 times in his testimony, though he did occasionally claim he wanted to answer questions or sparred with members of the committee.
In some instances, the questions were revealing. For example, an investigator cited an invoice to the conservative student group Turning Point USA getting billed $60,000 for “strategic advisory, promotion, keynote speeches” by Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. on Jan. 6, the day of the attack and the rally that preceded it.
Charles Kirk, the founder of the group, declined to confirm the payment, invoking his Fifth Amendment right.
Some witnesses were queried about what questions Justice Department investigators were asking them. Trump supporter Dion Cini — known for hoisting banners declaring Trump won the election — said the department wanted to know: “Why I was carrying a Trump 2024 flag. And did I enter the Capitol.”
“It’s a couple of a few of the same questions you asked me,” he said.
Phil Waldron, a former Army colonel who propagated conspiracy theories related the alleged hacking of voting machines, was asked repeatedly if he was aware of various reports and studies that concluded the machines had worked fine. He declined to answer.
Former Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark was asked about Trump’s unsuccessful effort to convince the Justice Department to file a legal challenge to election results in multiple states directly to the US Supreme Court — similar to a failed case that the Texas attorney general’s office had tried to bring.
The committee interviewer noted a Dec. 29, 2020, email from Molly Michael, Trump’s executive assistant, to top Justice Department officials saying that the president had asked them to review an attached draft of the lawsuit; that email was released by the House Oversight Committee last year.
–With assistance from Mike Dorning, Megan Scully, Steven T. Dennis, Joe Schneider, John Harney and Zoe Tillman.
(Updates with more details from transcripts beginning in 14th paragraph)
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