Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Jan. 6 select committee, said Tuesday the Justice Department would need to wait before it can access the panel's transcripts, The Hill reported.
Thompson told reporters that, like the public, the department has to wait for the final report to be released in late December to access transcripts of more than 1,000 interviewed witnesses.
"We're about a month away," Thompson said on the timetable before the report is released. "So, I don't think that we would be in a rush to speed that time up."
He also confirmed the panel never provided the Justice Department with 20 witness transcripts it previously agreed to share, revealing, "the committee just made a decision not to."
Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland maintained the Justice Department's position it would like to access "all the transcripts and all the other evidence" as soon as possible for its own probe into the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
"We are asking for access to all of the transcripts," Garland said Wednesday. "That's really all I can say right now."
According to Politico, there appears to be underlying competition between the House committee and the Justice Department to provide the most robust evidence for former President Donald Trump's involvement on Jan. 6.
But the Justice Department's decision to seize the phones of several Trump confidants, including attorney John Eastman, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, appeared to garner approval by committee members.
"Members spoke earlier in the year about wanting to see the Department of Justice do more," admitted Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. "They have, and so we should be respectful of that and acknowledge that and let them do what they need to do."
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