January 6 Committee Sends Message to AG Merrick Garland: 'Do Your Job'

Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack have voiced their frustration at the Justice Department for not charging more of Donald Trump's allies for refusing to comply with their subpoenas.

The panel urged the department—and in particular Attorney General Merrick General—to "do your job" and bring forward further charges against those who are not willingly cooperating with the inquiry into the events that lead up to the attack on the Capitol.

The members of the committee hit out at the slow-moving judicial process while announcing that they will be referring two more members of Trump's inner circle—former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and ex-Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino—to the full House to vote on whether they should be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with the congressional investigation.

So far, the committee has referred three people to the House for possible contempt—former White House advisor Steve Bannon, Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clarke.

Clarke later complied with his subpoena and showed up for a deposition, while Bannon was charged with two counts of contempt of court for defying subpoenas and refusing to answer questions from the committee—just three weeks after the full House held him in contempt.

However, a decision from the DoJ has still not been made on Meadows after he refused to comply with his subpoena, which has now been met with scrutiny from the committee.

Speaking at a meeting where the panel announced they will be recommending contempt of congress charges against Navarro and Scavino, panel member Rep. Elaine Luria said: "The Department of Justice must act swiftly.

"I will echo what my colleagues have already said, but more bluntly, Attorney General Garland, do your job so that we can do ours."

Rep. Adam Schiff also criticized the DoJ for not bringing forward more charges after the panel had recommended Trump's allies for referral.

"The Department of Justice has a duty to act on this referral and others we have sent," Schiff said.

"Without enforcement of congressional subpoenas there is no oversight. Without oversight, no accountability for the former president or any other president, past, present or future.

"Without enforcement of its lawful process, Congress ceases to be a co-equal branch of government, and the balance of power would be forever altered to the lasting detriment of the American people."

The comments after Garland gave an interview in early March to mark the one-year anniversary of him being appointed Attorney General that the criminal investigation into the Capitol attack attempted to stop the peaceful transition of power is "the most urgent" in the DoJ's history.

Garland also vowed that the department would not avoid bringing forward charges against an individual in order to avoid a major political fallout.

Elsewhere on Monday, a federal judge ruled that Trump "more likely than not" attempted to illegally obstruct Congress while trying to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory on January 6.

U.S. District Judge David Carter made the announcement while rejecting a bid from Trump's lawyer John Eastman to withhold more than 100 documents from the January 6 panel.

"The illegality of the plan was obvious," Carter wrote, adding that if Trump and Eastman's plan had worked it would have "permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution."

The ruling was made in a civil court, so does not mean that it increases the likelihood of Trump facing prosecution for allegedly attempting to block Congress from certifying the 2020 Election results in favor of Biden.

However, Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek that Carter's ruling may have a "political impact on swaying" Garland's future decision-making.

The DoJ has been contacted for comment.