House committee investigating Jan. 6 attack releases dozens of interview transcripts

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection released transcripts of interviews conducted with 34 witnesses on Wednesday, a day before it is expected to publish its long-awaited final report.

The transcripts released are interviews the committee conducted over the last 17 months as it it examined the causes behind the attack on the Capitol building by a mob of former President Donald Trump supporters seeking to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.

Among the transcripts released include interviews with former Trump attorney Michael Flynn, who also served as national security adviser under the previous administration, and John Eastman, who was also a lawyer to the former president during his tenure at the White House.

Interviews with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who pleaded guilty in October to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack, and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy late last month, were also among the released transcripts as well as testimonies from transcripts of extreme-right conspiracy theorists and media personalities Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes and Charlie Kirk.

The release came on the day the committee had said it would release its final report, but in updated guidance on Wednesday, the bipartisan nine-member panel announced that it "now anticipates its final report will be filed and released tomorrow."

No reason for the delay was given, but the scheduled release for the report coincided with a surprise visit to Washington, D.C., by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The transcripts were also published two days after the House committee referred Trump, Eastman and unidentified "others" to the Justice Department for criminal charges in connection to the siege on the Capitol that resulted in the deaths of at least five people and injuries to some 100 police officers.

A 154-page executive summary of its full report was released Monday which targets Trump as leading the plot to overturn his election loss.

Seemingly in anticipation of that final report, House Republicans on Wednesday released their own document that looks to blame leadership and law enforcement failures for the attack, while attempting to deflect criticism from the former president.