WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack, a source familiar with his testimony told NBC News.
Marc Short, who testified before the House committee back in January, was with Pence at the U.S. Capitol during the siege. He would be the highest-ranking former Trump administration official known to have testified before the federal grand jury.
Short’s grand jury appearance is an indication that the Justice Department's investigation into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, has expanded beyond those who attacked the Capitol and those involved in the so-called fake elector schemes. News of Short’s grand jury testimony was first reported by ABC News.
NBC News cameras stationed Friday outside the federal courthouse in Washington for the trial of Steve Bannon captured Short and his attorney Emmet Flood leaving the courthouse where the grand jury meets. A representative with the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia, which is running the investigation, declined to comment.
The day before Jan. 6, Short warned the Secret Service about the risk Pence faced if Trump turned on him, according to The New York Times.
The FBI and the Justice Department are running one of the largest investigations in U.S. history, with federal cases against about 850 defendants on charges from parading to seditious conspiracy in relation to the Capitol attack. The public Jan. 6 committee hearings, however, have stepped up public pressure for the Justice Department to hold Trump and his inner orbit criminally accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the role he played in stoking rioters on Jan. 6.
The source who confirmed Short's testimony would not discuss the contents of his testimony.
