And notably, the shift in the investigation did not appear to affect the upper chamber; a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson said Thursday that the panel is beginning to interview witnesses this week in its own inquiry. The chair of that panel, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), told POLITICO that his committee planned to interview two Trump-era DOJ Justice Department officials soon.
The House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sources said it has canceled plans to interview former acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and his former second-in-command, Richard Donoghue. Those interviews had been scheduled for this week and next. Instead, the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot will question the two men.
A third top Trump-era DOJ official — Rosen’s former senior counsel Patrick Hovakimian — answered questions in a closed-door interview with the Oversight panel earlier this week, making the current shift more striking. The Oversight committee also obtained a draft email Hovakimian wrote announcing that he and Donoghue had resigned because Trump fired Rosen. Trump didn’t fire Rosen, though, and Hovakimian never sent out the email.
The abrupt change came a few hours after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi released a statement with effusive praise of Maloney.
“The Chairwoman’s persistent pursuit of the truth will contribute greatly to the work of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” the statement said.
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.
