Rep. Pete Aguilar (D.Calif.), stated that the schedule has always been a challenge to achieve what we need in the given timeframe. We are committed to doing it and will use every tool available to do so.
There are many potential obstacles, from the high-powered lawyers in the ex-president's inner circle to tech companies sitting on potential witnesses communications to possible fellow lawmakers who helped Trumps efforts to reverse the 2020 election.
They are already seeing results from certain corners. An aide to the committee said that seven executive-branch agencies have responded to its first comprehensive set of Trump administration document requests. A spokesman for the committee stated that the National Archives and Records Administration has identified two distinct tranches of Trump White House documents and has sent them to the ex-president for review. This is a legal requirement before the committee can get them or challenge any objections.
The panel now has a full staff. It hopes to capitalize on the bureaucratic wins it made to get the documents it needs, while also preparing for a wave of subpoenas. Select panel Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) Wednesday's statement by Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) stated that a list containing subpoena targets will be made public as soon as possible.
Thompson stated in an interview that "there's a lot we need to unwind and there are so many variables involved in the process."
Thompson recently told POLITICO that he hopes the inquiry will be completed by the committee this spring. This is a very tight deadline for an investigation with such scale and scope. The panel will attempt to unravel Trump's efforts to reverse his election loss on Jan. 6, his attempts to mobilize Justice Department support for that crusade, and his motivation to call supporters to Washington the day Congress meets to certify the presidential election results.
The panel is also working to reform the Electoral Count Act, which governs the certification process. This is a massive mandate, but the committee is clearly going a different way than other congressional investigations. It will be building its probe from scratch.
It began hiring staff in June, and has already held one public hearing. In addition to issuing blanket requests for documents to different agencies and companies, it also issued document requests. The first Trump impeachment of 2019 was based on three House committees, which were already fully staffed since the inquiry began.
We are moving quickly, stated Rep. Adam Schiff (D.Calif.), one the seven Democrats on the panel and a manager for that 2019 impeachment. We will also forgo some time-consuming steps, and we will push back hard when we encounter resistance.
That includes quick subpoenas. Other high-profile Trump-focused inquiries have used a deliberate approach. They often began with a request to voluntary cooperation and waited several weeks before resorting to compulsory means. This was done to avoid legal scrutiny when subpoenas ended up in federal courts.
These tactics allowed Trump to endanger his presidency by wasting time on investigations, leaving Democrats with nothing or fighting for materials to support years-old probes.
As it seeks to obtain more sensitive information, the Jan. 6 panel hopes to gain a boost from Biden DOJ. Trump's DOJ blocked House inquiries into executive privilege and immunity claims, which Democrats considered outlandish. Now the Biden administration has said it will not stand in their way.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks at a House Select Committee hearing about the Jan. 6 attack in Washington on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Jim Bourg/Pool via AP
Schiff expressed his hope that Biden's DOJ would assist the House in holding recalcitrant witnesses in contempt before Congress and giving congressional subpoenas a sharper edge.
Since his initial request to federal agencies for documents by his panel, it has been almost a month. The committee claims that thousands of pages of documents have been turned over to investigators as a result. Trump's lawyers are also looking at documents from the National Archives to determine whether privilege can be invoked to protect some records from congressional investigators. Trump is currently in the middle of a 30-day review period as per public records law. This review period will expire in October.
The committee now turns its attention to Trump allies, and companies that may not comply with their requests to turn over large amounts of private communications and messages. Democrats are well aware that any investigation could be halted by a Republican takeover and are cautious of Trump allies' attempts to drag their feet behavior that has hampered previous House investigations for many years.
Two Republican panel members, Reps. Liz Cheney from Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois, agreed that the committee, whose members met at the Capitol Monday to get an update from staff, wants to move as quickly as possible.
Cheney stated that we will use all the tools at our disposal to quickly get answers. Kinzinger agreed with Cheney that the panel would not rush things.
Olivia Beavers contributed to the report.
