Bob Woodward says Mike Flynn guilty of ‘conspiracy to defraud the US’ as Capitol committee pursues Trump team

Reporter also pointed out that another key Trump loyalist has previously waived attorney-client privilege in public, making it harder to refuse to testify

Legendary Washington journalist Bob Woodward, whose reporting has thrown shocking light on the end of the Trump presidency, has said that some of the ex-president’s inner circle may be guilty of conspiracy to defraud the US.

In particular, Mr Woodward was referring to disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn, who has been subpoenaed along with several other Trump allies by the committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.

Asked by New Day host Brianna Keilar about his reporting on Mr Flynn’s conduct leading up to the insurrection, during which time he allegedly discussed imposing martial law, Mr Woodward said that while the select committee may struggle to compel witnesses to testify on its own, the Justice Department may have more leverage.

“The 6 January committee does not have a strong hand because there will be delaying moves and traditionally congressional committees can’t get this kind of information, and this goes back to the Nixon tapes case in 1974. So this is in the hands of the Justice Department.”

However, Mr Woodward also pointed out that the seriousness of the case against Mr Flynn and other key Trump advisers potentially puts them in the frame for potential legal repercussions. “This is a clear case of a violation of what is called 371 Section conspiracy to defraud the US,” he said of the attempt to have the resutls of the 2020 election thrown out. “If this is not a conspiracy to defraud the US, I don’t know what is.”

Section 371 of title 18 of the US Code sanctions actions where “two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy”. It carries a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment.

As has been pointed out by others who are trying to game out the select committee’s options, the panel faces the possibility that Trump loyalists will take legal action to fight its subpoenas, not in hopes of getting them thrown out, but simply to run out the clock until after the 2022 midterms – after which the committee may well be abolished if the GOP retakes the House.

Another figure among the six that the committee is targeting is John Eastman, a former law professor who infamously provided Donald Trump and Mike Pence with a memo outlining a process by which Mr Pence could supposedly throw out the results of the election on 6 January.

Mr Pence refused to act on Mr Eastman’s recommendations, reportedly leading the lawyer to blame the vice president for the violence even as it was unfolding.

In his CNN interview, Mr Woodward remarked that a researcher on his recent book Peril, Claire McMullen, has discovered that Mr Eastman “specifically talked about the ‘war room’ and the Willard and said it was kind of coordinating all of the communication” on a podcast earlier this year.

This refers to a room at the Willard Hotel in Washington DC that Mr Woodward said hosted Mr Eastman, Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani around the time of the insurrection – and which Mr Trump allegedly dialled into when Mr Pence refused to throw out the electoral votes.

On the point of Mr Eastman’s podcast appearance, Mr Woodward said the lawyer had potentially left the committee a major opening to obtain his testimony.

“In a very important legal point, he said I would not normally talk about things like this, but I have been directed by [Trump], so he’s waived the privilege,” he said. “And traditionally judges will look at this and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, you’re out talking about it, but also you’re saying your client, the president of the United States specifically said talk, explain’, so how do you justify not talking to this committee or a grand jury and so you’re kind of – you’ve got one and a half feet in the door already.”

Others subpoenaed by the committee include Mr Bannon, who has refused to comply; Jason Miller, a former senior adviser to Mr Trump; and 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien. The members of the panel have not ruled out summoning Mr Trump himself.