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EXECUTIVE SESSION COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, JOINT WITH THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D.C. INTERVIEW OF: JAMES A. BAKER Wednesday, October 3, 2018 Washington, D.C. The interview in the above matter was held in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, commencing at 10:02 a.m. Present: Representatives Meadows, Jordan, and Raskin.
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Mr. Somers. Good morning. This is a transcribed interview of Jim Baker. Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy requested this interview as part of a joint investigation by the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform into decisions made and not made by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the 2016 Presidential election. Would the witness please state his name and last position held at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the record? Mr. Baker. My name is James A. Baker. The last position I held at the Bureau was senior strategic adviser. Mr. Somers. On behalf of the chairman, I want to thank you for appearing today, and we appreciate your willingness to appear voluntarily. My name Zachary Somers, and I am the majority general counsel for the Judiciary Committee. I will now ask everyone else in the room to introduce themselves for the record, starting to my right with Art Baker. Mr. Arthur Baker. Arthur Baker, investigative counsel, House Judiciary Committee, majority staff. Mr. Breitenbach. Ryan Breitenbach, senior counsel, House Judiciary, majority staff. Mr. Castor. Steve Castor with the Committee on Government Reform, majority staff. Mr. Meadows. And Congressman Mark Meadows.
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Ms. Hariharan. Arya Hariharan, counsel, Judiciary, minority. Ms. Kim. Janet Kim, Oversight, the minority. Ms. Shen. Valerie Shen, Oversight, minority. Mr. Hiller. Aaron Hiller, counsel for House Judiciary, minority. Ms. Sachsman Grooms. Susanne Sachsman Grooms, Oversight, Minority Chief Counsel. Mr. , FBI, Congressional Affairs. Mr. Buddharaju. Anudeep Buddharaju, House Oversight, Mr. Gowdy's staff. Mr. Ventura. Christopher Ventura, law clerk, House Judiciary, majority. Ms. Doocy. Mary Doocy, legislative counsel, Mr. Meadows' office. Ms. , Office of General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. , Office of General Counsel, FBI. Ms. , FBI OGC. Mr. Levin. Dan Levin, counsel for Mr. Baker. Mr. Somers. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply in this setting, but there are some guidelines that we follow that I'd like to follow go over. Our questioning will proceed in rounds. The majority will ask questions for an hour, and then the minority will have the opportunity to ask questions for an equal period of time. We will go back and forth