Trump Oval Office meeting: Special prosecutors question witnesses about chaotic December 2020 election probe meeting

[ad_1]

CNN —

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has indicated continued interest in a tumultuous Oval Office meeting that took place in the final days of the Trump administration, where the former president considered some of the most desperate measures to keep him in power over his White’s objections. Counselor at home.

Multiple sources told CNN that investigators questioned several witnesses before the grand jury and during interviews about the meeting, which occurred about six weeks after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Some witnesses were questioned about the meeting months ago, while several others have faced questions about it recently, including Rudy Giuliani.

Last month, over two consecutive days, Giuliani spoke with investigators for a voluntary interview about a range of topics, including the tumultuous December 2020 meeting he attended, the sources said.

Prosecutors specifically questioned three outside Trump advisers who participated in the meeting: former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, one-time national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, sources said.

Giulianis’ attorney, Robert Costello, declined to comment.

An attorney for Powell declined to comment, as did an attorney for Byrne. CNN has also reached out to an attorney for Flynn for comment.

Both Powell and Byrne have spoken at length under oath about the meeting and other topics to the House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Flynn refused to answer questions during his interview with the committee, asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

The special advisers who have maintained interest in the tumultuous period come as the Smiths’ team appears poised to charge investigative rulings in efforts to overturn the election results. Investigators are still gathering evidence, contacting several new witnesses in recent weeks and trying to schedule interviews.

In a heated Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020, outside advisers spoke to top West Wing lawyers about the military’s plan to seize voting machines in key states that Trump lost. They also discussed naming Powell as special counsel to investigate supposed voter fraud, and Trump using martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election.

Shouting and insulting; the night ended with Trump tweeting that the upcoming gathering in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, to protest the election results will be wild.

Among the witnesses questioned by the special counsels team was former national security adviser Robert OBrien, who told a January 6 House select committee that he was patched into the December 18 meeting over the phone after it turned into a screaming match. by Flynn, Powell and White House lawyers, according to a transcript of OBriens deposition released by the panel.

Details about the subsequent secret grand jury testimony and closed-door interviews describe how the special counsel and his prosecutors are looking at the various ways Trump tried to reverse his electoral defeat despite some of his top officers advising him against the ideas.

The consistent emphasis on the Dec. 18 Oval Office meeting appears to overlap with a broader effort by the special counsels to hone in on the actions of some of Trump’s lawyers and allies in the period from Dec. 14, 2020, to January 6, 2021.

The date of December 14 is of particular interest to prosecutors, sources told CNN. That day, slates of alternative Republican electors in seven battleground states signed certificates falsely asserting that Trump had won. That same day, members of the Electoral College met in all 50 states to officially vote, declaring Joe Biden the winner with 306 electoral votes to Trumps 232.

Investigators focused on efforts to recruit illegitimate voters, get them to sign certificates that falsely claimed Trump had won, and then use them as cover to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of Bidens Electoral College win on January 6.

At least one witness told prosecutors in recent weeks that Trump’s allies asked Pence to question the legitimacy of Biden’s electors in those seven states based on unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud. voters and kick the certification decision back to the states themselves, a source said.

[ad_2]