The January 6 House Committee is turning to the Department of Justice to continue its work as it prepares to sunset.
Despite the investigative teams for the DOJ and January 6 Committee being at odds at times during the year. In May, for example, the panel went as far as to reject a Department of Justice request for it to hand over transcripts of interviews.
But circumstances have changed since then, and so has the panel’s tune. Now, the panel is facing an end-of-year deadline that is weeks away and has chosen to embrace a disposition reminiscent of a high school yearbook — to keep in touch.
On Thursday (December 8), the chairman of the Committee, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told reporters that the DOJ can talk to members and investigators as that cooperating was part of their “oath of office.”
Thompson added that he believed that the “cooperation” would be “ongoing.”
The cooperative tone continued, with Thompson noting that should the DOJ have a “particular interest” in a subject matter or subject, panel members would be as “cooperative as we can in respect to sharing it.”
Before, the Committee was reserved when responding to requests from the DOJ about information. The panel and the Justice Department were able to reach an agreement to share information after the DOJ complained in court that failing to provide transcripts would “complicate” their probe.
But the Committee never lived up to that agreement, with Thompson telling reporters that the Committee had decided “not to” hand over transcripts.
