The Jan. 6 Select Committee has reportedly reached out to several of former VP Mike Pence’s aides to invite them to testify during public hearings that begin this month, CNN reported on Thursday.
According to CNN, former Pence chief counsel Greg Jacob and former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, who has direct ties to Pence, have received invitations about possibly testifying when the hearings begin this month. Additionally, the committee is reportedly expected to call former Pence chief of staff Marc Short to testify.
All three Pence associates previously sat for private interviews with committee investigators. Their private testimonies have reportedly helped inform the panels’s court filings and subpoena requests of other potential witnesses as part of their investigation into the events surrounding Jan. 6, according to CNN.
In addition to requests for testimony from figures in Pence’s inner circle, the committee is also expected to contact former Justice Department officials who refused to cave to pressure to investigate unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. According to CNN, the panel has planned a list for a potential panel of ex-DOJ officials: then-acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue and then-Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel. Although formal invitations have not gone out to the former DOJ officials, the committee has privately suggested it plans to hold a related hearing in mid-June.
A source familiar with the committee’s plans also told CNN the panel will also hear from “first-hand fact witnesses.”
Short accompanied Pence for most of Jan. 6 and is among the former VP’s closest advisers. Short stayed with Pence after the then-VP as evacuated from the Senate chamber and moved to a safe location beneath the Capitol as Trump supporters breached the building. Pence, who refused to give into Trump’s public demands that he not certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, became a central target for those who breached the Capitol. Insurrectionists chanted “hang Mike Pence” as the VP defied Trump and ultimately proceeded to certify Biden’s electoral victory.
Short reportedly testified before the committee in person during a lengthy session in late January, CNN reported at the time.
Jacob previously served as Pence’s chief counsel. Jacob reportedly rejected conservative attorney John Eastman’s scheme to try to convince Pence to delay the count of the Electoral College votes.
Luttig, who previously served as private counsel to Pence, was also among the then-VP’s aides who pushed back on a memo by Eastman and supported Pence’s argument to Trump that there was no constitutional pathway to blocking the certification of Biden’s victory.
The committee’s outreach to former Pence aides comes as the panel is scheduled to hold several public hearings this month over the course of two weeks, according to reports.
Committee members have told reporters they aim to outline the narrative of the Capitol insurrection as Trump and his allies unlawfully attempted to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.
