Special counsel investigating January 6 interested in former Fox News producer’s audiotapes, her lawyer says

Particular Counsel Jack Smith has expressed curiosity in audio tapes recorded by former Fox Information producer Abby Grossberg whereas she labored on the right-wing community, her lawyer stated.

Grossberg lawyer Gerry Filippatos advised CNN on Wednesday that he has given a spreadsheet to the particular counsel’s workforce, detailing the almost 90 audiotapes in Grossberg’s possession. Talks are underway for a subpoena, so Grossberg can flip over the fabric to Smith’s workforce of federal prosecutors, who’re investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.

“We’re within the means of negotiating a focused subpoena for Abby’s digital knowledge, to allow them to have what they need,” Filippatos stated.

He first revealed the particular counsel’s curiosity in an MSNBC interview Tuesday.

Federal investigators initially reached out a number of weeks in the past, after among the tapes have been aired by information retailers, Filippatos stated. He added that Grossberg is dedicated to cooperating absolutely with legislation enforcement – which may embrace an eventual FBI interview or conferences with different investigators.

“They reached out to us after we publicized among the tapes,” Filippatos stated, referring to recordings of Fox host Maria Bartiromo discussing 2020 election conspiracy theories with Trump legal professionals Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, the place they have been “being candid off-air and saying one thing opposite to what they stated on-air.”

Fox Information fired Grossberg final month after she filed a pair of explosive lawsuits in opposition to the community. Her lawsuits accused Fox legal professionals of pressuring her into giving false testimony within the Dominion defamation case and say she skilled rampant misogyny and intercourse discrimination. Fox vehemently denies these allegations and has stated her lawsuits are “riddled with false allegations in opposition to Fox and our staff.”

A spokesman for the particular counsel’s workplace declined to remark.

In a associated improvement, MSNBC on Tuesday aired a brand new snippet of one in all Grossberg’s tapes. The beforehand undisclosed audio featured Republican Sen. Ted Cruz speaking with Fox Information host Maria Bartiromo about his plans to delay Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021.

Within the taped dialog with Bartiromo, Cruz outlines a plan for delaying the certification by establishing a “fee” to additional examine claims of voter fraud. The Texas senator had proposed a fee in a press launch on the identical day because the audio recording.

“As we have been taking a look at this January 6 certification, all the choices that have been being mentioned have been problematic. And so I needed to discover a path that was per the Structure and the legislation and that tackle these very actual severe claims,” Cruz stated on January 2, 2021, in line with the audio aired by MSNBC.

Cruz tweeted concerning the recording on Tuesday evening, saying it echoes what he stated on nationwide tv and the Senate flooring on the time.

“This @msnbc [clown] is breathlessly reporting that I ‘secretly’ stated in a cellphone name … the EXACT similar factor I stated on nationwide tv the following morning! After which stated once more on the Senate flooring 4 days later.”

On the time, even a few of Cruz’s personal Republican colleagues within the Senate who had labored for months to discover a means to assist Trump upend the 2020 election outcomes have been involved about his plan for delaying the certification.

“I’ve grave issues with the best way my buddy Ted goes about this effort,” Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, wrote to then-White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows on the time, in line with a textual content message beforehand obtained by CNN. “This is not going to inure to the advantage of the president.”