Rep. Jamie Raskin said a 7-hour gap in White House logs provided to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “are suspiciously tailored to the heart of the events” of that day but wouldn’t rule out the possibility the gap represents incompetence rather than conspiracy.
“We are aware of other phone calls that took place during that time that included the president,” the Maryland Democrat said. “But we have no comprehensive fine-grain portrait of what was going on during that period. And that is obviously of intense interest to us.”
Raskin, who sits on the Jan. 6 House select committee, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he is hoping for public hearings in early May regarding the investigation.
When asked whether he is confident the committee’s work will result in the Justice Department issuing criminal recommendations, Raskin only would say the committee will “lay out the evidence that we see” and that the committee’s first role is to “deliver a report” to the public and Congress.
Raskin’s comments come as some Democrats are starting to push DOJ to consider charges against former President Donald Trump. A federal judge also declared last week that Trump “more likely than not” committed a crime related to Jan. 6.
Ultimately, Raskin said he hopes the committee can “tell that story” of the connection between two things: the mob riot that injured law enforcement officers on Jan. 6 and what was going on behind the scenes.
“Then there was an attempt at an inside coup, what the political scientists call a self-coup,” he said. “Not a coup against a president, but a coup that is orchestrated by the president against the constitutional system.”
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