Prosecutors questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers and others in his inner circle that sought to replace Trump allies with certified voters from some say Joe Biden won, according to two people familiar with the matter. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Prosecutors filed hours of detailed questions about meetings Trump had in December 2020 and January 2021. His campaign pressured Pence to overturn the election. and what instructions Trump gave his lawyers and advisers about voter fraud and sending voters back to the states, the people said. Some of the questions focused directly on the extent of Trump’s involvement in the rigged election effort led by his outside lawyers, including John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, these people said. Additionally, Justice Department investigators in April obtained phone records of key Trump administration officials and aides, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to two people familiar with the matter. This effort is another indicator of how extensive the Jan. 6 investigation had become, well before the high-profile, televised House hearings in June and July on the matter. The House committee investigating the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill built its case in a series of eight public hearings. Here’s how they did it. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post) The Washington Post and other news organizations have it was previously written that the Department of Justice is looking into the conduct of Eastman, Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit. However, the extent of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of phone records of senior Trump aides. A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesman and a lawyer for Meadows declined to comment. Trump didn’t want to seek prosecution of rioters on Jan. 6, new video shows The revelations raise the stakes of an already politically charged investigation into a former president who remains central to his party’s fortunes. who has survived previous investigations and two referrals. Long before the Jan. 6 investigation, Trump spent years blaming the Justice Department and the FBI. research coming closer to it will likely intensify that competition. Federal criminal investigations are opaque by design, and investigations involving political figures are among the most closely guarded secrets in the Justice Department. Many end without criminal charges. The lack of observable investigative activity involving Trump and his White House for more than a year after the Jan. 6 attack has fueled criticism, particularly from the left, that the Justice Department is not pursuing the case aggressively enough. In trying to understand how and why Trump’s partisans and lawyers tried to change the election’s outcome, said a person familiar with the investigation, investigators also want to understand, at a minimum, what Trump told his lawyers and senior officials to they do. Any investigation surrounding the attempt to overturn the results of the election must explore complex issues of political activity protected by the First Amendment and when or if an individual’s speech could become part of an alleged conspiracy to support a coup. Many details of the extensive criminal investigation of January 6 remained under wraps. But in recent weeks the public pace of work has picked up, with a new round of subpoenas, search warrants and interviews. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and the lawyer, Greg Jacob, appeared before a grand jury in downtown Washington in recent days, according to people familiar with the investigation. Both men declined to comment. The Justice Department’s efforts are separate from the ongoing investigation by the House committee, which has sought to portray Trump as responsible for instigating the riot on Capitol Hill and for abandoning his duty by refusing to stop it. Both Short and Jacobs have testified before the committee, telling lawmakers that Pence resisted Trump’s efforts to enlist him in the case. Unlike the Justice Department, the House panel does not have the power to open criminal investigations or charge anyone with wrongdoing. More than 840 suspects charged in January 6 Capitol riot The Justice Department’s investigation, which began amid smoke, blood and chaos on Capitol Hill and led to criminal charges against more than 840 people, expanded to include an examination of events that occurred elsewhere in the days and weeks before the attack. — including the White House, state capitols and a DC hotel. There are two key strands of the investigation that could ultimately lead to additional scrutiny of Trump, said two people familiar with the situation, also speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The first focuses on conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, the kind of charges already filed against people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and two far-right group leaders, Stewart Rhodes and Henry “Enrique” Tario, who who did not breach the Capitol, but were reportedly involved in planning the day’s events. The second concerns possible fraud related to the fraudulent voter scheme, or pressure Trump and his allies allegedly exerted on the Justice Department and others to falsely claim that the election was rigged and the votes were cast fraudulently. Recent subpoenas obtained by The Post show that two Arizona state lawmakers have been ordered to turn over communications with “any member, employee or agent of Donald J. Trump or any organization supporting the 2020 re-election of Donald J. Trump, including of “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.” “ No former president has been charged with a crime in the country’s history. In cases where investigators have found evidence suggesting that a president engaged in criminal conduct, such as with Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton, investigators and successive administrations have concluded that it was best to grant immunity or forgo prosecution . One goal was to avoid the appearance of using government power to punish political enemies and ensure the delivery of a peaceful transfer of power. Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged that the January 6 investigation will follow the events wherever they lead and said that no one is exempt or controlled, while refusing to divulge information out of court. Garland told NBC News in an interview Tuesday that the department pursues justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone criminally responsible for the events of January 6 accountable for any attempt to interfere with the legitimate transfer of power from one administration to another — that’s what we’re doing. We do not pay any attention to other matters related to this.” Biden slams Trump for watching Capitol riot on TV as police face ‘medieval hell’ The January 6 investigation is by some measures the largest ever undertaken by the Justice Department. While investigators in nearly every part of the country are involved, the lion’s share of the work is being done by three offices: the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia and the crime and homeland security division at the department’s headquarters. During the first year of the investigation, prosecutors focused heavily on the people who breached the Capitol, some of them violently, charging hundreds with interfering with or assaulting police or obstructing official proceedings. This year, the voter fraud scheme has become a major focus of the Justice Department’s investigation. After Trump lost the election, lawyers and others close to him urged Republican Party officials in key states to file alternative and illegal voter rolls to throw out the results of the election totals. Those would-be voters have been aided in their efforts by Trump campaign officials and Giuliani, who have said publicly that the opposing slates were necessary and appropriate and have been described as overseeing the strategy. Jeffrey Clarke walked out into the street in his pajamas while federal agents searched his home Last month, federal agents swept across several states to serve subpoenas, execute search warrants and interview witnesses — a major escalation of overt investigative activity. As part of that effort, agents searched Eastman’s electronic devices and searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who enthusiastically embraced some of Trump’s latest efforts to prevent Biden from becoming president. Many of those subpoenaed were specifically told to hand over their communications with Giuliani. The Justice Department’s inspector general is also a major player in the investigation, looking into Clark’s role as a department official in allegedly promoting the efforts. In a call on Dec. 27, 2020, witnesses said, Trump told acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen that he wanted his Justice Department to say there was significant election fraud and said he was ready to fire Rosen and replace him with Clark , who was willing to make this claim. Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department could not “flip a switch and change the election,” according to notes of the conversation cited by the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I don’t expect you to do that,” Trump replied, according to the notes. “Just say the election was rigged and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” The president urged Rosen to…
