Justice Department watchdog says report on agency’s handling of January 6 riot likely won’t be released until after election

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A long-awaited watchdog report on the Justice Department’s handling of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot likely won’t be released until after the presidential election in November, the department’s inspector general said Wednesday.

During testimony to the GOP-led House subcommittee on alleged “weaponization” of the federal government, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there is a draft of the report that is not yet ready to be released.

“I doubt it would be done in time for the election,” Horowitz testified.

Asked by Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie if the report will be completed before the inauguration on January 20, Horowitz responded, “That is certainly my hope.”

A final version will also have to go through a potentially lengthy classification review, Horowitz said.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House, stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to protest the certification of the 2020 election results, following weeks of Trump and his allies alleging wide-spread voter fraud. Trump has been indicted on election subversion charges related to January 6 and pleaded not guilty.

Trump has already began to sow doubt about the results of the upcoming election in the event that he loses to Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

The inquiry into how the Justice Department prepared for, and reacted to, the riot was first announced in 2021. Horowitz testified Wednesday that the investigation was briefly paused as the Justice Department conducted criminal investigations into the January 6 attack. It wasn’t “reinitiated” until last year, he said.

Horowitz’s office announced in a statement about two weeks after the riot that the scope of the review would include looking into the information the agency had prior to the attack and whether there were “any weakness” in its policies or protocols that prevented it from adequately preparing for or responding to the riot.

Horowitz added in the statement that his office would be coordinating with the inspector generals of the Defense, Homeland Security and Interior departments, each of which launched their own reviews.

Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee found in a report last year that the attack was “essentially planned in plain sight on social media,” and yet the FBI and Department of Homeland Security appeared to have “completely dropped the ball.”

Nearly 1,500 defendants have faced charges related to the Capitol riot as of last month, according to the DOJ.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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