For much of the last year and a half, there’s been considerable frustration with the Department of Justice, and in particular with Attorney General Merrick Garland, because the only visible investigation into the Jan. 6 conspiracy appeared to be the prosecution of low-level insurgents who actually smashed their way into the building. There have been the occasional flashes of insight that gave a glimpse into a larger strategy—like the search of Rudy Giulani’s home, subpoenas to false electors, and searching the home of Jeffrey Clark—but there have also been long periods of silence in which the department seemed to be taking no action.
As Brandi Buchman reported on Wednesday, sources inside the Department of Justice say that the department is stepping up its investigation, including a criminal investigation of Donald Trump and his associates. Those reports tie in with recent instances in which the Department of Justice has called witnesses, including some of those false electors and former aides to Mike Pence, to testify before a federal grand jury. All of this was supported by a statement from Garland that seemed to imply that the department would not hesitate to follow all aspects of the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, even when the threads of that investigation led straight back to Trump.
But some voices inside the department are reportedly concerned it has bitten off more than it can chew. Not in the sense that Trump is too tough for them, but simply in that the Department of Justice may lack the human resources required to dig through the “logistical nightmare” of the Jan. 6 conspiracy.
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As NBC News reports, the concerns expressed by “more than a dozen” sources familiar with the investigation center not on whether the department has enough bodies overall—with 113,000 employees, it’s not exactly short of bodies. The question is whether enough of the department’s resources have been allocated to what is being called “the most wide-ranging investigation in Justice Department history.”
With over 840 arrests associated with the events of Jan. 6 so far and the agency still working its way up the chain toward Trump, the investigation is eating up a significant portion of the agency’s overall resources. That’s especially true of the time local FBI and U.S. attorneys are spending tracking down information across the country on everything from violent insurgents to false electors to state and local officials who were threatened as part of the attempt to overturn election results.
In its budget for the coming year, the Justice Department has asked for an additional $34 million to fund 80 federal prosecutors and 50 more employees who would be dedicated to completing the investigation into Trump’s attempted coup. However, these funds were not included in the omnibus spending bill that passed in March.
As has become clear from some of the questions asked, the Department of Justice is definitely looking into the violence on Jan. 6 and what steps Trump and his co-conspirators took to deliver the assault on the Capitol. But that’s far from all they’re investigating.
Trump’s efforts to overturn the election started well before the election. As Steve Bannon revealed weeks before the vote, Trump always intended to “just declare victory” using claims about mail-in-ballots as a pretext for disputing the outcome of the election. The Justice Department seems to be looking into the steps Trump took to set up his supporters for the Big Lie, as well as schemes like the effort to overwhelm courts with false information and to interfere with the submission of electors in December. The Jan. 6 plot was just the last in a series of schemes, and the department may be looking into how all of them fit together.
There’s no doubt it’s a large amount of work, but despite the reported concerns, Garland insisted that he’s confident the Department of Justice can handle the massive investigation. Still … if some more funds would get things moving faster, it would be a great investment.
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