Jan. 6 committee set to interview rioter who breached the Capitol
“This individual has met with the committee,” Shaner said.
POLITICO agreed not to identify Shaner’s client who will be interviewed Friday. However, the Jan. 6 committee has been reaching out to multiple defense attorneys for those charged in the attack to solicit voluntary interviews. Until Friday, it was unclear if any had accepted their invitation.
Many of those charged have expressed remorse about their actions and suggested their presence at the Capitol was driven by Donald Trump’s call to march on Congress. Dozens of those who participated in pro-Trump rallies on Jan. 6 — which later morphed into the attack on the Capitol — traveled in groups and may be able to aid investigators as they inquire about the organizers of the Jan. 6 demonstrations that preceded the insurrection.
Shaner, during a Thursday sentencing hearing for another Jan. 6 defendant, Jack Griffith, indicated that he, too, would be willing to cooperate with the committee.
And at a sentencing hearing Friday for defendant Leonard Gruppo, his attorney Daniel Lindsey indicated Gruppo had cooperated with the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation and was betrayed by Trump.
“He followed the recommendation of a president who is amoral and cannot tell the truth — a former president,” Lindsey said.
The judge in Gruppo’s case, Beryl Howell, credited Gruppo — a military veteran — for cooperating with lawmakers, saying he demonstrated his remorse since Jan. 6, “particularly by talking to members of Congress on the select committee to help deter other people with the specialized training you [received] in the military, not to turn it against fellow Americans.” Howell sentenced Gruppo to 24 months of probation, 90 days of home detention and a $3,000 fine.
The committee has been interviewing and collecting documents from those involved in planning the rallies, though it’s unclear if all of the depositions have gone forward. A deposition set for Friday with a former Justice Department official who aided Trump’s effort to overturn the election was postponed after he switched attorneys.
The committee was set to hold closed-door interviews Friday with Amy and Kylie Kremer, a mother-daughter duo whom committee investigators believed were part of organizing Trump’s rally at the Ellipse. But a committee aide confirmed the depositions were postponed amid ongoing talks.
“Today’s depositions have been postponed for a short time as witnesses continue to engage with the Select Committee’s investigation,” the aide said.
Josh Gerstein and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
