House Republicans published testimony Tuesday from five former prosecutors who worked with Special Counsel Jack Smith and a former Justice Department inspector general agent as the Judiciary Committee continues examining the Arctic Frost investigation and the collection of Republican lawmakers’ phone records.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The House Judiciary Committee released six previously closely watched interview transcripts Tuesday as Republicans broadened public access to testimony gathered during their investigation of the Justice Department’s Arctic Frost probe and the subsequent special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith. The committee said the witnesses included five former Smith prosecutors and a former agent with the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.
The committee announced the release of the transcripts as House Republicans continue scrutinizing investigative steps that involved President Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress.
Republicans on the committee allege investigators improperly obtained phone records associated with more than a dozen GOP lawmakers during Arctic Frost and secured gag orders that prevented the lawmakers from being informed that the records had been obtained. The committee’s official announcement characterized the investigative actions as unconstitutional, an allegation made by committee Republicans as part of their oversight inquiry.
The newly published material provides the complete transcribed interviews of former Smith team prosecutors J.P. Cooney, Molly Gaston, Ray Hulser, Tad Duree and Thomas Windom, along with former Justice Department Office of Inspector General Special Agent Brian Burnett.
The committee released the full transcript of J.P. Cooney, a former prosecutor on Smith’s team whose testimony was among the records made public Tuesday.
It also published the complete interview with Molly Gaston, another former prosecutor involved with the special counsel’s office.
Former Smith team prosecutor Ray Hulser’s testimony was separately made available through his full committee transcript.
The committee additionally released the transcribed interview of Tad Duree, who also served as a prosecutor on Smith’s team.
Thomas Windom, another former Smith prosecutor, was included in the document release through his full redacted transcript.
The sixth witness was Brian Burnett, a former special agent with the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General. His committee interview transcript was released alongside those of the five former prosecutors.
The Judiciary Committee said the testimony concerns both the Arctic Frost investigation and the special counsel investigation that followed it. The release places the witnesses’ own testimony into the public record as congressional Republicans continue examining how investigators pursued records involving elected lawmakers.
Central to the committee’s inquiry is the use of legal process to obtain telephone records connected to Republican members of Congress. Committee Republicans have also focused on gag orders issued in connection with those requests, arguing that the restrictions kept lawmakers from knowing that investigators had sought their information.
Tuesday’s publication does not itself constitute a new finding by a court regarding the legality of those investigative actions. Rather, it makes the six interview records publicly available as the Republican-led committee continues its congressional examination of the Justice Department and Smith’s former investigative team.
The release gives lawmakers, journalists and the public direct access to testimony from prosecutors who worked on the investigation and from a former Justice Department watchdog agent, shifting a significant portion of the committee’s underlying interview material into the public record.
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