Former President Donald Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department (DOJ) over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The federal probe is part of the DOJ’s Jan 6 criminal investigation.
Prosecutors have asked witnesses testifying before a grand jury in recent days about conversations with the former president, his lawyers and other close advisers about “fake electors”, according to The Washington Post.
Justice Department lawyers are investigating meetings that Trump led in December 2020 and January 2021, his pressure campaign to overturn the election and what instructions he gave to his lawyers and advisers about fake electors and sending electors back to the states,” two sources told the newspaper on Tuesday.
According to sources, some questionings were focussed on Trump’s direct role in the fake elector scheme that was headed by Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.
Prosecutors in April received the phone records of Trump’s top White House officials, including his then-chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Two individuals familiar with the investigation told that there were two principal tracks of the investigation that could lead to additional scrutiny of Trump, reported the Independent.
As per the sources, the first investigation includes seditious conspiracy and the conspiracy to obstruct government proceedings. The second investigation could include possible fraud connected to the “fake electors” scheme.
It comes on the same day that Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news channel that the DoJ planned to prosecute anyone who is criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another.
In recent days, former vice president Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and his lawyer, Greg Jacob, have both appeared before the grand jury in Washington DC.
Trump was also in Washington on Tuesday, to give his first speech there since leaving the White House for Florida in January 2021.
In the speech to the America First Policy Institute, Trump claimed he ordered the Secret Service to clear homeless encampments in Washington DC.
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