Former Jan. 6 committee chair confirms probe records sent to prosecutors investigating Trump

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee, has confirmed to Republican lawmakers that the panel sent records to prosecutors who have filed charges against former President Donald Trump, after initially saying he had not preserved such material.

Mr. Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, made the acknowledgment in a Dec. 13 letter to House Administration Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk, Georgia Republican, in response to Mr. Loudermilk’s request a week earlier.

“As stated in its Final Report, the bipartisan Select Committee transmitted its evidence of potential crimes to prosecutors conducting concurrent, independent investigations of then-President Trump’s multi-part conspiracy to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 Presidential election and the deadly January 6th insurrection,” Mr. Thompson told Mr. Loudermilk.

Republicans launched an inquiry in early December into whether the Select Committee sent documents and materials to Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis to help her build a criminal case against Mr. Trump. Ms. Willis, a Democrat, is prosecuting Mr. Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants on charges related to efforts to overturn President Biden’s win in Georgia in 2020.

Mr. Loudermilk and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio previously asked Ms. Willis and Mr. Thompson to turn over documents related to any investigative coordination between the Georgia prosecutor’s office and the committee.

The Georgia Republican told Mr. Thompson in another letter on Dec. 5 that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Select Committee shared records with Ms. Willis and provided Fulton County prosecutors “key evidence about what former President Trump and his top advisers knew with respect to Georgia’s 2020 election results.”

He wrote, “However, there are no records of any additional communication between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis and her office. Therefore, we have no records showing what the Select Committee actually provided her office.”

Mr. Loudermilk noted that this concerned him because Mr. Thompson wrote in a previous letter that he did not preserve any video recordings of depositions or transcribed interviews. The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Thompson’s office.

“By failing to preserve these videos, you deny the American public the right to review the footage and make their own conclusions about witnesses’ truthfulness. Clearly Ms. Willis agrees that video recordings of witness interviews and depositions are important records,” he said.

“There are no records of any additional communication between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis and her office,” Mr. Loudermilk wrote on Dec. 5. “Therefore, we have no records showing what the Select Committee actually provided her office.”

House GOP investigators recently found a Dec. 17, 2021, letter from Ms. Willis in which she requested “recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel” from Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Thompson initially denied to The Washington Times that the Select Committee ever responded to Ms. Willis’ request, despite reports to the contrary in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We did not share any records,” he said. “That is incorrect.”

The Mississippi Democrat also told Mr. Loudermilk in his Dec. 13 letter that he could not hand over Select Committee records, and cited a House rule that requires panel records be kept separate and distinct from the records of the congressional office of the lawmaker serving as the committee’s chair.

“So, I am unable to provide the Select Committee records your letter requests,” he wrote. “It is my understanding that all archived records of the bipartisan Select Committee have been transferred to the Committee on House Administration.”

Mr. Thompson reiterated that in a previous letter to Mr. Loudermilk on July 7, “the bipartisan Select Committee worked diligently to archive ‘official, permanent’ records consistent with” House rules.