As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep President Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling the case together has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, prosecutor named Thomas Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of DOJ's most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries in recent memory, reports the New York Times. Windom, working under the close supervision of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s top aides, is executing the department’s time-tested, if slow-moving, strategy of working from the periphery of the events inward.
He has been leading investigators who have been seeking information, for example, about the roles played by some of Trump’s top advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, with a mandate to go as high up the chain of command as the evidence warrants. Windom has also overseen grand jury appearances like the one last week by Ali Alexander, a prominent “Stop the Steal” organizer who testified for nearly three hours. Windom, in conjunction with U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, has been pushing the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack to turn over transcripts of its interviews with hundreds of witnesses in the case — spurred by an impatient Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Windom has been involved in almost all the department’s other key decisions regarding the wide-ranging inquiry. Windom remains largely unknown even within DOJ, outside of two high-profile cases he brought against white supremacists when he worked out of the Maryland suburbs. Windom’s bosses appear to be intent on preserving his obscurity.
Comments