'Evidence is strong': Top Jan. 6 investigator says Georgia charges are near
The top staff investigator for the House probe into the Jan. 6 insurrection believes indictments are near following Georgia's special grand jury probe into election manipulation in the state.
"It seems clear" there "will be indictments in Georgia," former U.S. attorney Timothy Heaphy told Ari Melber on MSNBC's "The Beat" on Friday. "I'm basing this on the facts," he added. "There is strong evidence of a number of people committing both crimes in Georgia and federal crimes."
As for the House panel's Jan. 6 probe, Heaphy said the riot at the Capitol was part of a determined "multipart plan" to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
But while rioters are being sentenced for their role, "who set them in motion in the broader plan is a fundamentally different inquiry" whose consequences have yet to hit, he told Melber. The final step in a sophisticated plot to upend the election was an "angry mob ... launched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol," Heaphy said, a clear reference to Donald Trump's speech to his supporters before the siege to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell."
"We made clear conclusions and very public criminal referrals" concerning Jan. 6, Heaphy explained, after the panel found "evidence of intent to disrupt the joint session, there was conspiratorial conduct, there may have been seditious conspiracy and other serious crimes."
Now it's up to the Department of Justice to indict, he noted.
He believes the DOJ hasn't yet acted because "they're being really careful and really thorough." But "the evidence is there" of criminal conduct, Heaphy added, including "strong evidence" of Trump's aim to criminally "obstruct, impede or influence the joint session," he noted.