Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who serves on the Jan. 6 select committee, on Saturday said that many of the more than 200 witnesses the panel has interviewed are former Trump administration officials who came forward voluntarily.
In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Lofgren noted that some other ex-Trump administration officials also volunteered testimony, but needed a subpoena for “cover.”
Lofgren, however, declined to offer insight into whether the former Trump officials who voluntarily came forward to the panel served in Trump’s White House, the Trump campaign or were part of former Vice President Mike Pence’s staff.
“Let me not be that specific, but let me say certainly there have been people, part of the Trump administration, who have spoken to us and provided important insights that have led us to further questions,” Lofgren said when asked about whether they were White House staffers, according to CNN.
Lofgren also dismissed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ executive privilege claim. Earlier this month, Meadows skipped his deposition after the committee subpoenaed him alongside others within Trump’s inner circle, prompting leaders of the Jan. 6 committee to threaten Meadows with referring him for criminal contempt. Lofgren on Saturday told CNN that the committee still has questions for Meadows unrelated to his private conversations with the former president, which include whether Meadows used a private cell phone to communicate on Jan. 6 and where his text messages from that day are.
Lofgren declined to comment on evidence that the committee has obtained when pressed on whether the panel is concerned about Meadows potentially destroying evidence.
“It would be unfair of me to say that. But let me just say we would like to know about his use of a private cell phone and what happened to that cell phone and whether those records have been captured by the National Archives as the law requires,” Lofgren said, according to CNN.
Lofgren’s remarks to CNN come days after former Trump adviser and podcast host Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty to two counts of contempt of Congress, following his refusal to comply with the committee’s subpoena, saying that Jan. 6, 2021-related information was shielded by executive privilege.
Last week, Lofgren told CNN that in addition to the interviews with hundreds of witnesses, the committee received nearly 25,000 documents as well as more than 200 tips from its tip line.
Earlier this month, CNN also reported that the committee is looking into gathering information from at least five people close to Pence. The committee reportedly subpoenaed Keith Kellogg, who served as national security adviser and accompanied Trump for most of Jan. 6 as the then-President’s supporters breached the Capitol on the day of the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
