The US Justice Department’s decision to bring two top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence before a federal grand jury is the most aggressive public step yet by prosecutors investigating plots to subvert the 2020 election .
Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, testified before a grand jury in DC on Friday, CNN has confirmed.
The Justice Department investigation has reached the White House of former President Donald Trump. (AP)
His Pence aide, Greg Jacob, also testified in recent weeks, CNN has learned from a source close to the investigation.
The questions to Jacob and Short included a focus on the fraudulent voter scheme and the role of Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, the source said.
Short and Jacob were present at key meetings before the January 6 uprising that were part of a lobbying campaign to convince Pence to disrupt congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Jacob, a former Pence legal adviser, has been involved in the January 6 House Select Committee investigation, even testifying publicly at a hearing last month. (He has not responded to CNN’s inquiries about reports of his grand jury testimony.)
Short confirmed to CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday night that he complied with a grand jury subpoena, but declined to discuss any details about his appearance.
He briefly sat down for a statement at the House inquiry.
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Short and Jacob’s accounts were among the evidence cited by a federal judge in California to conclude that Trump and his allies may have been planning a crime in their plot to disrupt the transfer of presidential power.
How to address Trump in the January 6 investigation has been a sensitive issue for the Justice Department.
The department has faced immense pressure from lawmakers, former prosecutors and others to focus on the 2020 election recall bosses.
But any investigation into a former president raises a number of highly sensitive and potentially explosive political and legal issues.
That Pence’s inner circle is being forced to cooperate in the investigation suggests that at least some of those hurdles have been cleared.
Then-President Donald Trump’s actions are under scrutiny as the investigation into the 2020 election gathers momentum. (AP)
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland was visibly frustrated when a reporter spoke to him about the possibility of the former president being indicted, as the former judge repeated vague claims that “no person is above the law in this country.”
In an interview with Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News on Tuesday, Garland said the DOJ would look into any interference with the “legal transfer of power.”
“I will say again that we will hold accountable anyone criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the legitimate and lawful transfer of power from one administration to another,” Garland said.
January 6: The day that shook American democracy
Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House Select Committee, said the testimony from Pence’s aides is a “positive” development.
“The Department of Justice needs to look into any potential criminality,” Kinzinger said Tuesday on CNN’s New Day.
“I wonder what they’ve been doing for the last year and a half. That said, if they’re moving forward looking at these things, that’s positive for the country.”
The short, Kinzinger added, is a good source.
“He certainly knows a lot about what happened, and I think you can be pretty confident under oath that he’s going to tell the truth,” the congressman said.