Schiff: Jan. 6 committee probe ‘compelled’ DOJ to look at alleged criminal activity by Trump

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday the House panel that investigated the circumstances of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “compelled” the Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into allegations of criminal activity conducted by former President Trump.

“I do believe that the work we did, the evidence we put forward to the country and to the Justice Department really compelled them to look at these serious allegations of criminal activity by Donald Trump,” Schiff said on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.” “I’m not sure that would have happened in the absence of the work that we did on the January 6 committee.”

Schiff, who sat on the Jan. 6 committee, noted that the panel referred several people to the DOJ for prosecution for contempt of Congress, which included refusals to testify.

“We only batted about 50 percent in terms of whether the department would enforce those subpoenas,” Schiff said. “And those cases have still not reached a conclusion, a final conclusion. So the Justice Department has a much greater capability of compelling testimony. I would imagine there’s a whole body of evidence that we didn’t have access to.”

Trump said last week that he received a target letter from the DOJ in connection to the department’s own Jan. 6 investigation. The Jan. 6 committee issued criminal referrals against Trump at the completion of its congressional investigation late last year.

— Updated July 24 at 6:21 p.m.