During an interview with NPR, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland sent a signal that Justice Department could move to prosecute Donald Trump if it finds that the former president broke the law as he attempted to overturn the 2020 election results and pledged that the Jan. 6 investigation won’t end until everyone is held accountable.
The House select committee has already filed a criminal conspiracy complaint against Trump and several of his allies in connection with Trump’s efforts to impede Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory and the attorney general assured NPR that the Justice Department would pursue charges against anyone involved in that effort who violated the law.
“We are not avoiding cases that are political or cases that are controversial or sensitive,” Garland told NPR. “What we are avoiding is making decisions on a political basis, on a partisan basis.”
As noted by Raw Story, Garland said the department had already allocated massive resources to investigating and prosecuting activity related to the insurrection.
“Every FBI office, almost every U.S. attorney’s office in the country is working on this matter,” Garland told NPR. “We’ve issued thousands of subpoenas, seized and examined thousands of electronic devices, examined terabytes of data, thousands of hours of videos. People are working every day, 24-7, and are fully aware of how important this is. This had to do with the interference with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, and it doesn’t get more important than that.”
This week, Capitol rioter Guy Reffitt, of Texas, was convicted on all counts in the first case emanating from the Jan. 6 insurrection. That followed a guilty plea to seditious conspiracy by an Alabama member of the Oath Keepers militia.
Garland said that the Justice Department is working on “the cases that are right in front of us” and vowed “to hold everyone accountable who committed criminal acts with respect to Jan. 6.”
