How to Get Your Hands on the Jan. 6 Panel's Final Report When It Finally Drops
The Jan. 6 Select Committee has spent the past year and a half investigating the insurrection which will culminate in a more-than 800 page document dropping Wednesday.
Update: The Jan. 6 Select Committee announced late Wednesday that it would delay releasing the full final report until Thursday.
Original article:
Read more
If you’re starting to feel like you haven’t been able to keep up with all the news swirling around former President Donald Trump, just know you’re like a lot of folks out there trying to wrangle who’s investigating or indicting whom, which charges is Trump getting hit with, or if Trump will get inside a spacesuit like shown on one of his now-infamous Trump NFTs and hitch a ride on the next NASA Artemis rocket.
The final report, which is expected to be over 800 pages in length, should appear as a public document released on a government website. In all likelihood, it will appear on the official Jan. 6 select committee website. Once it’s released, it will be one of the most detailed reports ever submitted by a congressional working group, especially considering the Jan. 6 Select Committee has spent more than a year and a half on the investigation, including month after month of testimony and back-door meetings with witnesses.
You can also expect that the site will be bombarded with requests to download the massive document. If the site does go down, then expect to find multiple different reporters and sites sharing the document as well. Just don’t fall for any suspicious links while you’re at it.
There are parts of the document that may be redacted, according to California Rep. Pete Aguilar because they are “law enforcement sensitive.”
Click on to see what’s already been released and what most analysts are looking for in the full document.
Update 12/21/22 at 4:30 p.m. ET: This post was updated to say that the Jan. 6 committee would release the final report Thursday instead of Wednesday.
What’s already been released?
A 100-page introduction to the full report is already available on the Jan. 6 Committee site in both PDF form and embedded on the page itself.
According to a report from Politico citing unnamed sources familiar with what’s happening, the report will be organized into eight chapters and four appendices. The first two appendices will cover the Capitol police’s response to the riot and examine dispatchers’ slow response to calls from reinforcements from those on the ground. The third appendix will reportedly analyze who was funding the Stop the Steal rally which preceded the storming of the Capitol. A fourth appendix will look into foreign governments’ reaction to the Jan. 6 insurrection and the ways in which they capitalized on the news.
Is Trump being charged with a crime?
On Monday, the select committee announced in its final public meeting it was recommending at least four criminal charges. The members named several big points, including obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and conspiracy to make a false statement.
What happens after the full report will come down to the federal Justice Department. Punchbowl News first reported that the select committee has already started supplying documents to the Department of Justice’s special counsel Jack Smith. That report was later confirmed by NBC News.
Smith is running the DOJ’s own investigation into Trump and what happened on Jan. 6, though the department has not given any hints for how close they may be to charging Trump of any crime. It could be some time before Attorney General Merrick Garland and his team actually come out with charges, or it could be much sooner than anticipated.
Will the Jan. 6 document mention attempted obstruction of the committee’s proceedings?
The 100 page introductory document released by the Jan. 6 committee alleges that Trump had a plan to use fake voting certificates, it mentions Trump was “personally and substantially involved in multiple efforts to pressure State election officials and State legislatures to alter official lawful election results.”
Further on, the document mentions that “The Select Committee is aware of multiple efforts by President Trump to contact Select Committee witnesses. The Department of Justice is aware of at least one of those circumstances.”
Being “aware of” does not necessarily mean the DOJ will drop obstruction of justice charges into any potential plans to charge Trump with crimes, but that notice may be expanded on in the full report.
Did Trump really try to grab his secret service driver’s steering wheel?
You may have heard about former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson who testified in front of the committee that Trump tried to grab the secret service driver’s steering wheel to let him join with the protesters already swarming the Capitol grounds. Still, even with that one detail, many analysts are looking to see if Trump was directly involved in the planning and planned participation in the insurrection.
Another potential witness, deputy chief of Staff Tony Ornato, told the committee that he did not recall that event despite the committee saying he testified differently behind closed doors. Committee leaders mentioned they would release a transcript of his testimony in the full report.
What about the money trail?
The full report may offer more information about who had helped finance the insurrection. During the last year, the committee noted Trump had raised $250 million after the 2020 election to challenge the result.
As noted by ABC7, the panel has noted the Trump Campaign and the Republican National Committee sent emails to supporters further extolling their fable of a “rigged” election.
California Rep. Zoe Lofgren has contended Trump’s family and his compatriots “personally benefited” from donations that were ostensibly going to support the stop the steal campaign. That has not come out in meetings so far, but the full document may supply further details on where this money went.
Will there be more transcripts of unheard testimony?
While folks like former Attorney General Bill Barr have become a well-known witness for the committee, there’s an expectation we might hear more of their words than what’s been presented in hearings.
The panel also interviewed Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump as well as former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, which the committee noted in its introductory report they were not very cooperative.
Punchbowl News first reported based on an unnamed source familiar with a letter from the DOJ that the committee interviewed several prominent White House counsel members and lawyers for Trump, including former Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and more. All these transcripts were reportedly shared with the Justice Department.
What has been the impact worldwide?
As mentioned, the Jan. 6 committee hearings have not touched on what foreign governments gained from all this talk about the election being stolen. This will be detailed in the report, but we already know the likes of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro who has explicitly used Jan. 6-esque rhetoric to get his supporters fired up about losing his most recent election.
Bolsonaro supporters have reportedly attacked police in the streets, but there’s fear the situation could get even more violent and complicated as the date for the transfer of power draws near.
More from Gizmodo
Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
