Jan 6 Committee releases 34 testimonies from Trump supporters hours before 800-page report is due

The January 6 committee has released transcripts of interviews it conducted with 34 Trump supporters just one day before submitting its much-anticipated 800-page final report.

Those 34 interviews were conducted as part of his investigation into the 2021 Capitol storming and saw numerous high-profile Trump allies, including Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes, Roger Stone and Charlie Kirk, invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions.

The transcripts were made public as the release of the final report was delayed until Thursday and reveal the scope of the committee’s investigation.

According to an executive summary, the report will find Donald Trump guilty for the 2021 post-election defeat and accuse him of putting “the lives of US lawmakers at risk” with false claims of widespread voter fraud.

In the 34 interviews, many prominent figures avoided answering questions by invoking the Fifth Amendment, allowing them to remain silent.

Others who chose not to answer questions included Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide, and Phil Waldron, a former Army colonel who has spread theories about the disappearance of voting machines.

A transcript of the interview with Alex Jones released Wednesday revealed that he advocated for the Fifth nearly 100 times, telling interviewees over and over again: Following the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

When asked to spell his name for the court reporter, he told the committee member who asked him questions that he was too stressed to do so.

He also told the interviewer asking his name: ‘You know my name. She’s on the file.

Republican campaign manager Roger Stone did not answer questions related to his name.

Alex Jones said he was too ‘stressed out’ to be able to spell his name

White supremacist Nick Fuentes, on the other hand, indulged in certain questions related to where he grew up, studied and lived, but when asked about possible associations with the America First Foundation, Fuentes ‘very respectfully’ declined to answer since doing so’ might tend to incriminate you.

The prominent interviewee cited by the court was Roger Stone, a Republican campaign strategist and longtime friend of Trump, who also called on the Fifth for simple questions such as asking for his name as part of a defensive strategy.

Mike Flynn, a retired US Army lieutenant who served as Trump’s first national security adviser, was another of the 34 people interviewed and was once again quick to use his right to remain silent.

He answered initial questions by examining his military background, including when and where he served.

Mike Flynn, a retired US Army lieutenant who served as Trump’s first national security adviser, was another of the 34 people interviewed.

Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide, stopped asking questions when asked how he got his job at the White House Office of Manufacturing and Trade Policy.

When asked about a ‘Cyber ​​Ninjas’ audit in Arizona, Flynn became uncooperative. The Cyber ​​Ninjas are a Florida-based company that commissioned an audit of the Arizona elections.

sound files obtained by CBS News Earlier this week, a congressional investigator investigated Flynn about whether he was involved in an effort to overturn the 2020 election result and whether he pressured military and intelligence officials to help.

Garrett Ziegler, a former White House aide, stopped answering questions when asked how he got his job at the White House Office of Manufacturing and Trade Policy.

He confirmed that he graduated from St. Louis University in Missouri in 2018 and that his White House job was his first.

Ziegler was questioned about how fully he had responded to the committee’s requests for documents and information.

He said he conducted a search based on all the electronic devices he has access to and diligently reviewed them.

After Ziegler was questioned by the committee in July, he was recorded commenting on how he felt attacked at that time and forced to invoke the Fifth Amendment at that time as well.

“They see me as a young Christian that they can basically try to scare, right? And so today it was a lot to say that I invoke my right to silence,” Ziegler said.

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, declined to confirm that fact during his interview with the committee.

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, would not confirm that fact during his interview with the committee.

He was asked about a $60,000 bill from Donald Trump Jr. and whether he was in talks with Trump staff about his appearance at the March for Trump Rally on Jan. 6. He refused to answer those questions.