U.S. Justice Dept requests Jan 6 committee transcripts -panel chair

[May 18, 2022] By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice asked the House of Representatives committee investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol to turn over some transcripts from interviews conducted as part of its probe, the panel's chairman said on Tuesday.

Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson told reporters that the department had asked for the transcripts but the panel had not agreed to turn them over.

"It's our work product. It's the committee's work product," Thompson said, when asked about the request, first reported by the New York Times.

"We're in the midst of our work. If they want to come and talk, just like we've had other agencies to come and talk, we'd be happy to talk to them, but we can't give them access to our work product at this point," he said.

Thompson said the committee planned to turn over the transcripts when it completed its investigation.

On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building, after the Republican then-president gave a fiery speech urging them to protest congressional certification of his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

Chairperson U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) speaks as members of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol listen before a vote to approve a report recommending the U.S. House of Representatives cite Jeffrey Clark for criminal contempt of Congress during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

The committee has conducted hundreds of interviews, including many with close Trump associates and former White House aides, about the Capitol riot and events leading up to it.

It plans to hold public hearings next month.

Earlier on Tuesday, Thompson said the panel had not yet decided to call Trump himself to testify.

The Jan. 6 committee last week sent subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the party's leader in the House, demanding that they sit for interviews.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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