Jan 6 Committee deep dive

Did Trump find new ways to keep the money coming in after his loss by shifting from a presidential campaign to a "Stop the Steal" effort?

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The committee's investigators are broken down into highly skilled teams with core areas of focus, including one that's on the money.

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"These are questions, they're allegations, they're not yet determined," [Norm Eisen, a former House lawyer in Trump's first impeachment case] notes. However, some examples of these questions are "were false representations made in order to fleece people of their funds? Was it wire fraud? Was it money laundering?"

The Eastman court filing could become a part of a much larger path forward if the committee potentially issues criminal referrals against Trump by the conclusion of its probe.

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"I think the level of grift that was involved with the Trump campaign and people close to the former president, how the January Six efforts were for many of them, this is what they were doing to make money," said California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the Jan. 6 panel. "We are looking into that."

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While it investigates, the panel is also documenting possible crimes.

Although it has no criminal jurisdiction, the committee can issue criminal referrals to the Justice Department, as it has done in cases of some witnesses who have refused to cooperate.

Last week, the committee detailed possible crimes Trump might have committed related to Jan. 6 in a recent court filing involving attorney John Eastman, who was advising Trump's Stop the Steal efforts.

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Among the challenges: the committee will have to prove intent behind the efforts. And such a criminal referral could be laced with political landmines, putting pressure on the Justice Department's independent and impartial role.

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In the coming days, the committee could unearth another rash of financial details with information from a newly subpoenaed witness.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, is due to turn over documents to the panel today and testify next week. Last year, ProPublica reported Guilfoyle bragged in text messages that she helped raise $3 million for the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse, where she was one of the speakers.

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The committee has also quietly sought banking records, including in the case of Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesman who sued to keep his financial institution from complying with a subpoena.

"There's no doubt that there is a very big moneymaking operation component to this story," said Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, another committee member who was the lead manager of the House team in Trump's second impeachment.

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OpenSecrets has identified at least nine groups that may have contributed to funding the rally, including Stop the Steal, Women for American First, Tea Party Patriots and Turning Point Action.

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This spring, the committee hopes to hold its first hearings illustrating the findings so far and issue an interim report by the summer with a final report this fall.

  NPR

Just in time for the mid-term elections.