The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol interviewed former national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the panel’s work said.
O'Brien had been among a small group of then-President Donald Trump’s top officials to acknowledge Joe Biden’s election victory, saying in November 2020 that the National Security Council was preparing for “a very professional transition.”
O'Brien's former deputy, Matthew Pottinger, testified before the panel at a public hearing last month. Pottinger resigned after the Capitol riot but stayed on overnight at O'Brien's request because O'Brien was returning from a trip.
O’Brien was initially scheduled to be interviewed by the panel earlier this month.
The committee has been trying to find out more about what top Trump administration officials knew about the former president’s intentions on Jan. 6, 2021, and whether Cabinet members discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove him from office afterward, a source said this month. The panel interviewed former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao this month. Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also resigned after the violence at the Capitol.
At the panel's last public hearing, in July, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said she expected the committee would resume hearings toward the fall.
“We have far more evidence to share and more to gather,” Cheney said then. “So our committee will spend August pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts before convening further hearings this September.”
