In a significant development, it has been revealed that the House Jan. 6 select committee provided valuable assistance to Georgia prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The committee's staff secretly met with lawyers and agents working for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in mid-April 2022, just as she was preparing to convene a special grand jury investigation.

During the meeting, the Jan. 6 committee aides allowed the district attorney's team to review a limited set of evidence they had gathered. Over the following months, the committee staff engaged in several phone calls with Willis' team, answering their questions and sharing insights into Trump's false electors' gambit and his attempts to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. These actions eventually played a significant role in the criminal charges brought against Trump and his allies.

The timing of these interactions between the committee and Willis' team was confirmed by exhibits attached to new court filings in the ongoing prosecution of Trump and 14 co-defendants for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

It is worth noting that the committee's assistance to Willis' investigation took place while they declined to provide similar cooperation to the Justice Department's separate federal criminal probe of Trump's election subversion. One reason for their willingness to collaborate with the Fulton County team was the potential requirement for federal prosecutors to disclose evidence in ongoing criminal cases related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

When congressional Republicans recently pressed Willis to disclose her team's contacts with the Jan. 6 committee, she staunchly refused, arguing that their inquiry violated well-established principles of federalism and separation of powers.

The nature of the cooperation between Willis and the Jan. 6 panel is deemed unusual by legal experts. Sol Wisenberg, a former prosecutor who worked on Ken Starr's Clinton probe, said that the level of specific cooperation is highly uncommon, as it involves using a congressional investigation to aid a prosecution.

The Jan. 6 committee, formed by the Democratic-led House in 2021, spent 18 months investigating Trump's subversion of the 2020 election, gathering crucial evidence that has since become instrumental in Trump's various legal entanglements. The committee disbanded at the end of 2022.

Providing evidence of potential crimes to prosecutors is not unheard of for congressional committees. However, the extent of assistance provided by the Jan. 6 committee to Willis' team is notable. Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) compared it to prior investigations where congressional committees were able to make progress ahead of law enforcement agencies.

The cooperation between the Jan. 6 committee and the Fulton County prosecutors is now under scrutiny as Willis' prosecution moves forward. The committee's efforts played a major role in jumpstarting a criminal case that has put Trump in jeopardy.

The Jan. 6 committee had a different relationship with federal prosecutors investigating Trump's election subversion. Concerned about the sensitive nature of the material, the committee assured the Justice Department that it would eventually share its evidence but initially declined to hand it over. The appointment of special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022 coincided with the committee concluding its work, and the majority of the evidence and witness transcripts were provided to the Justice Department.

As the legal battles continue, congressional Republicans are pressing for further details regarding the contacts between Willis and the Jan. 6 committee. Meanwhile, Trump and his legal team have utilized these contacts as a focal point in their attempts to challenge the charges against him, making unsupported allegations about the committee's alleged destruction or concealment of evidence to politically harm him.

This disclosure of collaboration between the Jan. 6 committee and Georgia prosecutors sheds new light on the intricate web of investigations surrounding Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It highlights the significant role played by the committee in assisting Willis' pursuit of justice and adds another layer of complexity to an already contentious legal battle.