Welcome to the beat, everyone.

We begin with this breaking news on the DOJ criminal January 6 Pro.

The Justice Department investigation into the January 6th insurrection and coup is substantially escalating.

This is a story that Nicole and I just discussed crossing just within the last hour, courtesy the New York Times.

The Justice Department count for subpoenas has drastically increased that we know of.

This may have been going on privately or secretly, but the Times has busted open the story.

And you see some of the names.

Two top Trump advisors, including Boris Epstein and Mike Roman, had their phones seized, along with these 40 subpoenas.

Boris Epstein was the Trump campaign lawyer who was directly involved in efforts that could constitute crimes or fraud.

Indeed, we have endeavored to talk to every principle or source that we can in our reporting.

And when we pressed him, he admitted to part of the fraudulent electors plan here on the beat.

Did you ever make calls like that regarding what you're calling these alternate electors?

I was quoted in the Washington Post in the last 24 hours.

Yes, I was part of the process to make sure there were alternate electors

for when, as we hoped, the challenges to the seated electors would be heard and would be

successful per the 12th Amendment of the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act.

That was Boris Epstein's on the record explanation, his view of his defense, and what others

may view as a confession. Because while he may have the

view that the Constitution supports what he was doing, the seizing of his phone suggests that both

the DOJ and an independent judge may not view it the same way. The Times calls this a significant

escalation of a probe we've known about, but a probe that has for many months at the DOJ

focused on the ground troops, on the insurrectionists, on the people who physically stormed

...