Former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short has testified before a federal grand jury looking into the January 6, 2021 breach on the US Capitol.
“I can confirm that I did receive a subpoena for the federal grand jury and I complied with that subpoena. Under the advice of counsel, I can't say much more than that,” Short told CNN on Monday.
The remarks came after the former top staffer to Pence opened up on his feelings about the Capitol riot in a separate interview with ABC News, in which the 52-year-old specifically said that “having the Capitol ransacked the way that it was, I think did present liability and danger.”
“And I think the Secret Service did a phenomenal job that day. I think that the bigger risk and despite the way perhaps it was characterized in the hearings last week, candidly, is that if the mob had gotten closer to the vice president, I do think there would have been a massacre in the Capitol that day,” Short argued.
ABC News previously cited unnamed sources as saying that the Department of Justice expanded its criminal probe into the January 6, 2021 event to include preparations for the rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol, as well as the financing for the event.
In January, Short testified before the House Select Committee, which conducts a separate investigation into Capitol breach. The panel considers Short’s boss – Mike Pence - a key witness into what former Trump was doing in the days leading up to the Capitol riot.
The panel considers Pence a key witness into what then-US President Donald Trump was doing in the days leading up to the Capitol breach.
The January 6, 2021 developments saw a mob, including some supporters of Trump, attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of what the 45th president slammed as "the most corrupt election" in US history.
Trump was accused of "incitement of insurrection" despite having called on his supporters, via his now-suspended Twitter account, "to stay peaceful" and "go home", and recording a video address on January 7 condemning the violence. He was impeached for an unprecedented second time over the accusations, but was then acquitted in the Senate.