• The top investigator for the House Jan. 6 committee told The New York Times it was hard to interview witnesses.
• Timothy Heaphy said witnesses were concerned that their cooperation would be leaked. 
• Witnesses who cooperated were concerned they'd be "outed as a turncoat."

The top investigator for the House Jan. 6 committee said it was hard to interview witnesses when they were worried their cooperation would leak and they would be labeled a "turncoat." 

Timothy Heaphy, a former U.S. attorney who led the investigation, declined interviews throughout the 18 month probe, but spoke with The New York Times in an interview published on Sunday.

"I mean, there were days when we would interview a witness and literally 30 minutes later, there's Luke Broadwater on TV saying the select committee interviewed the witness," Heaphy told The Times. "And that makes it really difficult because there were times when people would say, "Well, my client would like to help the committee, but she's concerned that if she does, then she'll immediately be outed as a turncoat."

On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol as congress was getting ready to certify the 2020 election vote. Five people died in the riot. The insurrection came at the heels of months of false claims by Trump and his allies that the election was rigged against him. Trump loyalists such as lawyers Rudy Guiliani and John Eastman pushed false claims of election fraud.

The House select committee spent months investigating Trump and his allies' involvement in inciting the riot and called on several members of his inner circle to testify. Not everyone who was called to testify in front of the committee did. Additionally, many, including Eastman, exercised their Fifth Amendment right not to speak. 

"So the public nature, the scrutiny under which we operated, was not helpful, and it made it more difficult for us to earn the trust and confidence of people," Heaphy told The Times. 

He also told The Times that he thinks the Department of Justice could also bring charges against several Trump allies including Eastman and Guiliani.

"How broad the conspiracy extends, I don't know. But it's potentially broader than even the people that we mentioned," he told the paper.