The Jan. 6 committee released dozens of testimony transcripts Wednesday night after delaying the release of the final report until Thursday.
The transcripts include interviews with key figures of the Trump administration, including former White House lawyer John Eastman, adviser Roger Stone, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and InfoWars host Alex Jones.
Here are the first takeaways from the content dump.
Witnesses mostly plead Fifth Amendment
The most common answer by witnesses to any question posed by investigators is asserting their Fifth Amendment right to decline to offer information that could be used to prosecute them.
Stone, a consultant on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, refused to answer questions as minute as his age and residency, instead invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
These witnesses are pleading the 5th to almost all of these questions.
Here’s Roger Stone not answering how old he is: pic.twitter.com/o89WXTDkVJ
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) December 21, 2022
Eastman, the lawyer who sent the memo outlining a purportedly legal path by which Congress could avoid certifying the presidential election, pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked about the memo.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, did the same even when asked his age.
Jones, “Stop the Steal” rally fundraiser Julie Fancelli, Latinos for Trump head Bianca Gracia, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, and Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald also invoked their Fifth Amendment rights.
Transcripts give insight into mindset of alleged riot participants before and after Jan. 6
Some testimonies provided insight into the mindset of protesters on the day of the riot, such as onetime Michigan gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley, who allegedly participated in the riot. Kelley described the event as energetic and patriotic when asked if he thought Jan. 6 was a “positive” day. When pressed on the violence and the death of protester Ashley Babbitt, he acknowledged that was a “negative.”
“Yeah, there was a lot of energy, there was a lot of love of America Singing of the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance — you know, there was a lot of very patriotic, positive things that happened that day,” he said.
Enrique Tarrio, who is affiliated with the Proud Boys and an accused plotter of the Jan. 6 attack, said the riot was a setback for the organization.
“Inside they had the same feeling that I did, where they’re like, bro, this is a setback. I mean, this is not good,” Tarrio said in the witness transcript, adding, “I just think that, like, if that wouldn’t have happened, if they wouldn’t have gone in, like, we wouldn’t have the issues that we’re having today.”
Whose witness transcripts have yet to drop?
Throughout its 18-month investigation, the Jan. 6 committee interviewed some 1,200 witnesses. The dump Wednesday evening, which was littered with redactions, represents a fraction of the panel’s stockpile.
So far, the trove of blockbuster witness transcripts that have not yet been made public includes depositions from former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Rudy Giuliani, Trump White House aide Tony Ornato, and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
“The select committee intends to make public the bulk of its nonsensitive records before the end of the year,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told reporters Monday.
Snippets from many of those testimonies were played during public hearings, and a summation of much of their closed-door remarks was made public earlier in the week in the executive summary of the final report. The committee is expected to release the full version later this week.
Some of the transcript and document trove is expected to be turned over to the Justice Department, which has been conducting a sprawling investigation about the riot and efforts to overturn the election.
The panel is also sitting on White House visitor logs and other key records.
Why dump all this out now?
The transcripts were released after a delay in the publication of the final report. The Jan. 6 committee is set to dissolve ahead of the Republican takeover in January, giving it a limited window to finalize its work and divulge information to the public.
While the committee did not explicitly give a reason for disclosing the 34 transcripts Wednesday, the release comes amid a hectic time crunch to ensure transcripts have the proper redactions to be made public.
Aspiring House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has threatened to review the committee’s work once the GOP regains the House and demanded it preserve documents.
