1/ The Justice Department is investigating Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol as part of its criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Prosecutors are questioning witnesses before a grand jury about Trump’s conversations and meetings in December 2020 and January 2021 about his involvement in efforts to reverse his election loss, his campaign to pressure Pence into overturning the election, and what instructions he gave his lawyers and advisers about the fake electors scheme. Investigators have also received phone records of key officials and aides in the Trump administration, including Mark Meadows, and recently seized phone records of top aides, including John Eastman, the lawyer who helped develop the fake electors scheme, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who supported Trump’s efforts to stop Biden from becoming president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, meanwhile, said the department will pursue justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable — that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)

The Justice Department has reached out to more Trump White House officials. “The Justice Department has already brought two top aides to Pence in front of a federal grand jury, a move that signals its probe has reached inside former President Donald Trump’s White House and that investigators are looking at conduct directly related to Trump and his closest allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election.” (CNN)

Cassidy Hutchinson has recently cooperated with the Department of Justice investigation into the events of Jan. 6. “Hutchinson publicly testified before the Jan. 6 committee earlier this month, spending some two hours recounting details about what she said went on behind the scenes at the White House leading up to, during, and after the Jan. 6 attack.” (ABC News / CNN)

2/ The Jan. 6 committee and the House Oversight Committee called for a new inspector general to lead the investigation into erased Secret Service text messages related to the Capitol attack. In a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and the head of the Council of Inspectors General, Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney raised concerns about Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s “failure to inform Congress of deleted Secret Service text messages in a timely manner despite being required by law to ‘immediately’ report problems or abuses that are ‘particularly serious or flagrant.’” The lawmakers added: “We do not have confidence that Inspector General Cuffari can achieve those standards.” (Washington Post / NPR / CNN)