A top investigator for the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is leaving his post at the end of the week amid the slew of public hearings the panel is conducting.
John Wood confirmed his departure to CNN on Wednesday, with a source telling the network Wood is leaving sooner than expected.
Wood has worked as counsel to Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) while the Jan. 6 panel gathered information for more than a year.
His departure comes as activists reportedly were encouraging him to join the Senate race in Missouri.
Wood would be seen as a more moderate Republican alternative to GOP candidate Eric Greitens, who has made headlines for attacking other conservatives.
In a campaign video earlier this week, Greitens said his supporters needed to go “RINO hunting,” an acronym for Republican in Name Only. Facebook said the video violated company policies prohibiting “violence and incitement” and took it down.
Former Sen. Jack Danforth (R-Mo.) told The Hill that Wood “would be my ideal for an independent candidate.”
The Hill has reached out to the Jan. 6 House committee for comment.
–Updated at 1:56 p.m.