While former Trump administration official Steve Bannon continues to ignore a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House Select Committee and has been referred to the Justice Department on charges of contempt, some former members of the previous White House staff are in contact with the committee and fully cooperating.
CNN reports that at least five former Trump officials are voluntarily providing information to the committee:
Those discussions come as lawyers working for the committee have also reached out to a range of other Trump aides to inquire whether they would be interested in speaking with the committee voluntarily, without the threat of a subpoena.
The engagement could provide insight for the committee that’s seeking to learn more about the actions of former President Donald Trump and his supporters in the lead up to the riot.
According to five former Trump aides, counsel for the committee has emailed or texted them directly to ask whether they are interested in coming in to talk to the congressional investigators, often looking for context on what happened inside the West Wing before the insurrection on January 6.
The purpose of the contacts with the former staffers is less about what they did on the fateful day, but is instead “to glean more context on what was happening inside the West Wing before, during and after the attack.”
CNN’s report led to a larger discussion on the network about what political repercussions could be felt, especially in the 2022 midterm elections, with host John King noting:
“And we know how the former president operates. And we know what is likely to happen in his world and in his mind when he hears five former staffers cooperating, or at least engaging in communicating with the January 6th committee.”
That led New York Times national political correspondent Lisa Lerer to weigh in:
“He’s going to try to lock it down and get these people not to talk and figure out who is talking and, you know, raise threats for other people not to talk, but I think the point that people are talking is a good one and the timeline is important, too.
“As much as the Republicans wanted this to go away, as much as they have tried to rewrite the history on when happened that day, the fact that this is still ongoing shows that that’s going to be harder for them to do.”
Lerer then added that the investigation could well motivate Democratic voters in the midterms:
“New information can change public opinion pretty fast and it’s certainly something that’s very motivating for Democratic voters at a time when Democrats really need any additional enthusiasm they can get for their base, you know, as they look down the road to the midterms that are expected to be quite difficult.”
