The former Trump administration aides have voluntarily communicated with the House committee investigating attack on the US Capitol, CNN learned
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.
While several people have voluntarily sat down with the committee, others have declined the committee’s request or not responded at all. The outreach has ranged from junior-level staffers to more seasoned officials.
The outreach is not necessarily because the committee believes the staffers were involved in what happened that day. But the investigative staff appears to be trying to glean more context on what was happening inside the West Wing before, during and after the attack, according to the sources.
A committee spokesman declined to comment.
News of the outreach comes as Trump is engaged in a legal battle over the committee’s investigation. Trump has sued the committee and the National Archives in an attempt to shield documents from them. And an attorney for the former President recently instructed four former Trump administration officials — Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Stephen Bannon and Kash Patel — not to provide any testimony or documents to the investigative panel, claiming they are protected “from disclosure by the executive and other privileges, including among others the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges.”
