Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/146

146 anticipation that there would be not that type of violence. Is that fair to say?

Yes, that's right. That was some relief to hear that it would be essentially be a one-sided protest, because it lessens the potential for violence.

In hindsight, do you believe that played out to be accurate?

Generally, yes. Because, as difficult and as ugly as January 6th was at the Capitol, we didn't have people getting murdered all over D.C. on that day. And, again, if you look at what happened in Portland, the assailant there simply walked up to that individual and shot him point-blank for no reason other than he had a political difference with him.

Now, it also states that "MS," meaning Michael Sherwin—that's your notes—"will send email updates on Friday describing details, and planning on sending daily emails."

How involved was Michael Sherwin in the preparation for January 6th?

He was very involved. He ran the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office. They work in close conjunction with the Metro PD, Capitol Police, and other law enforcement agencies that are specific to D.C. Every arrest that's made in D.C. ultimately gets processed through his office, so they had a good working relationship.

If there were arrests that arose from this, as we knew there may well be, they would've been processed through his office. He had AUSAs sitting at the various command posts.

And so, yes, he was very much involved in this. And the DAG and I both were relying, to some extent, on what he was reporting to us about what to expect.

After this meeting, what steps, if any, did you and Mr. Rosen take in terms of preparing DOJ's components for January 6th?

So, around this time, the Acting AG decided that, even though we'd not