The J6 Committee goes up the ladder
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is working to secure testimony from a growing number of officials in former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who reportedly discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recently sat with committee investigators for a transcribed interview, the sources said.
ABC News previously reported that Pompeo is expected to speak with the committee in the coming days, though his interview is not officially scheduled.
Among the officials actively negotiating with the committee are the former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and the former acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
Wolf would also be able to speak to Trump’s desire to order the federal government to seize voting machines.
The engagement shows that even after the committee’s round of dramatic public hearings, it continues to pursue additional evidence about what the administration’s most senior officials knew about Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6.
Committee investigators are not only focused on the discussions surrounding the 25th Amendment that occurred within the Cabinet, but also Cabinet members’ concerns after the attack on the Capitol about Trump’s decision-making, including his potential conversations with world leaders.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that Ratcliffe “didn’t want much to do with the post-election period.” Hutchinson said that Ratcliffe “felt that there could be dangerous repercussions, in terms of precedent set for elections, for our democracy, for the 6th. You know, he was hoping that we would concede.”
The committee also has expressed interest in speaking with other senior Trump officials like Robert O’Brien, the former national security adviser.
Representatives for Mnuchin, Ratcliffe, Wolf and O’Brien did not immediately respond to ABC’s request for comment.
Another area of focus are Cabinet officials who resigned in the wake on Jan. 6: former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
They will potentially join a growing list of officials who have already cooperated with committee investigators, including former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia. Former Attorney General Bill Barr also sat with committee investigators for a deposition.
I don’t know if they’re going to offer anything useful but they are all self-interested opportunists so they will undoubtedly do what they think is best for them, not Donald Trump. The only question is if they think their self-interest is aligned with his.