Former Vice President Mike Pence’s ex-chief of staff appeared before a federal grand jury focused on the Jan. 6 riots last week, according to reports.
Marc Short, an aide who was with Pence at the US Capitol as supporters of President Donald Trump converged on the building, confirmed to CNN and ABC News that he testified before the grand jury after receiving a subpoena to do so.
“I think that having the Capitol ransacked the way that it was, I think did present liability and danger,” Short told ABC News. “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.”
On CNN Monday, he said it was his only appearance before the grand jury, but did not comment further.
Short also testified before the House select committee investigating the Capitol breach.
During one of the panel’s hearings last month, Short was shown on video testimony saying Pence told Trump “many times” he didn’t agree with efforts to overturn the election, including rejecting electors or declaring that Trump had won.
The Justice Department has been probing possible criminal conduct connected to attempts by Trump allies to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week the investigation is the most important and wide-ranging in the Justice Department’s history.
“No person is above the law,” he said.
In a January 2022 speech to DOJ employees, he vowed to hold anyone responsible for the Jan. 6 riots whether they were physically there or not. He said prosecutors were “committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law.”
With Post wires
