Donald Trump's Lawyers in Touch With Justice Department Regarding January 6 Criminal Probe
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Former President Donald Trump's lawyers have reportedly been in contact with the U.S. Justice Department regarding the agency's January 6 criminal probe.
According to USA Today, two people familiar with the matter revealed Thursday the move of Trump's legal team in trying to block access to conversations with his former top aides.
The disclosure came after the federal criminal inquiry seemed to have ramped up as they issued subpoenas to former Trump White House officials and aides to former Vice President Mike Pence.
The former president's political team issued a statement condemning the Justice Department's actions, noting that "there is clearly a concerted effort to undermine" the executive and attorney-client privileges, which are Constitutionally rooted.
Trump is expected to claim executive privilege once the Justice Department seeks details of the presidential conversation with White House Counsel's Office's aides and members.
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury probing the January 6 Capitol attack.
Donald Trump Lawyers Talking to Justice Department
Sources told CNN that the conversations between Donald Trump's camp and Justice Department officials are focused mostly on whether any communications that witnesses from the Trump West Wing had with the former president can be kept from the federal criminal grand jury under claims of executive privilege.
The Justice Department is expecting a court fight with Trump over executive privilege. Trump's lawyers have warned the former president that indictments are possible.
Sources said Trump has "grilled" his lawyers on whether they actually believe he will face formal charges. One person familiar with the matter noted that the former president had doubts he will be indicted.
Another person close to Trump said he was more engaged when he was chatting with friends and advisers about the 2022 midterms and his possible presidential campaign in 2024. The same person noted that Donald Trump was dismissive in conversations about current legal challenges.
Justice Department on January 6 Criminal Probe
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has been tapped to investigate another deletion of text messages and other communications by senior officials on January 6 last year by the Pentagon.
A non-partisan watchdog group, American Oversight, revealed the deletion on Tuesday, The Guardian reported. It was discovered through the freedom of information requests to the Department of Defense.
The Defense Department and army admitted that the phone messages of senior Trump officials were wiped after the turnover of the administration. It included the January 6 text messages.
The Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service were also reported to have conducted the same deletion of communications around January 6.
American Oversight said in a letter sent to Garland that they are urging him to investigate the Defense Department's failure to preserve the text messages of several top officials on the day of the January 6 attack.
The officials involved in the questioned deletion of messages were former acting defense secretary Chris Miller; former army secretary Ryan McCarthy; and Kash Patel, who was Miller's chief of staff.
Also included in the list were Paul Ney, formerly Pentagon general counsel; and James E. McPherson, formerly general counsel of the army.
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Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Donald Trump Lawyers in Talks With DOJ About Jan. 6 Criminal Probe - From CNN