The Jan. 6 committee has released transcripts of interviews it conducted with 34 Trump supporters just a day before it will deliver its much-anticipated 800-page final report.
Conducted as part of the investigation into the 2021 attack on the Capitol, those 34 interviews saw numerous high-profile Trump allies — including Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes, Roger Stone and Charlie Kirk — invoke their Fifth Amendment right, none to answer questions.
The transcripts were released as the release of the final report was delayed until this Thursday and show the extent of the committee’s investigation.
According to one summary, the report aims to blame Donald Trump for 2021 after his election defeat and accuse him of “putting the lives of American lawmakers at risk” with false claims of widespread voter fraud.
Transcripts of interviews with 34 Trump allies and supporters were released Wednesday by the January 6 committee
In the 34 interviews, many prominent figures avoided answering questions invoking the Fifth Amendment and allowed 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 promoted theories about voting machine failures.
A transcript of Alex Jones’ interview released Wednesday revealed that he pleaded the Fifth nearly 100 times, repeatedly telling interviewees: On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
When asked to spell his name for the court clerk, he told the committee member, who questioned him, that he was too stressed to be able to do so.
He also told the interviewer who asked his name: “You know my name. It’s on record.”
Republican campaign manager Roger Stone declined to answer questions about his name
Alex Jones said he was too “stressed” to spell his name
White supremacist Nick Fuentes, on the other hand, gave in to certain questions about where he grew up, studied and lived, but when asked about possible connections to the America First Foundation, Fuentes “most respectfully” refused to answer, as he might tend to to incriminate him.
The celebrity interviewee summoned by the court was Roger Stone, Republican campaign strategist and longtime friend of Trump, who also approached the Fifth on simple questions like asking his name as part of a defense strategy.
Mike Flynn, a retired US Army lieutenant who served as Trump’s first national security adviser, was another of the 34 people interviewed who were quick to exercise their right to remain silent again.
He answered initial questions about 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 Trade and Manufacturing Policy
When asked about a “cyber ninjas” audit in Arizona, Flynn stopped cooperating. The Cyber Ninjas are a Florida-based firm that commissioned an audit of the Arizona elections.
Audio files obtained by CBS News earlier this week revealed that a congressional investigator was looking into Flynn to determine whether he was involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election result and whether he was pressuring military and intelligence officials to help him .
Garrett Ziegler, a former White House staffer, stopped answering questions when asked how he got his job at the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
He confirmed that he graduated from St. Louis University in Missouri in 2018 and that his White House job is his first.
Ziegler was shocked at how comprehensively 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 had access to and “diligently went through them”.
After being grilled by the committee in July, Ziegler was recorded feeling attacked on the occasion and obligated to invoke the Fifth Amendment at the time as well.
“You see me as a young Christian who you can basically scare, right? And so a lot was said today that I was invoking my right to remain silent,” said Ziegler.
Charlie Kirk, a founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, declined to confirm this fact during his interview with the committee
Charlie Kirk, a founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, declined to confirm this fact during his interview with the committee.
He was asked about a $60,000 bill from Donald Trump Jr. and asked if he was in talks with Trump staffers about his appearance at the March for Trump Rally on Jan. 6. He declined to answer these questions.