Marc Short, the longtime aide to former Vice President Mike Pence who served as his chief of staff during the last months of the Trump administration, has reportedly given evidence to the federal grand jury investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
According to ABC News, Mr Short appeared before the grand jury on Friday. He was photographed departing the Washington DC courthouse where the grand jury is meeting alongside his attorney, former White House special counsel Emmett Flood.
The ex-Trump White House staffer is the highest-ranking official from the former administration who is known to have testified in the Justice Department’s investigation of the Capitol attack.
Earlier this year, the department reportedly widened its investigation into the attack to encompass planning for the rally at which former president Donald Trump spoke just before a mob of his supporters broke through barricades and attacked police officers while ransacking the Capitol.
The department is also reportedly investigating a plot carried out by Trump campaign officials and associates of the former president in which fake electoral certificates were submitted to the National Archives.
The fake elector scheme was part of a byzantine plot under which Mr Pence would have illegally commandeered counting of electoral votes during the 6 January 2021 joint session of Congress at which his and Mr Trump’s loss to Joe Biden was to be made official.
Neither Mr Short nor Mr Flood immediately responded to requests for comment from The Independent.
