Jan. 6 panel eyeing 5 people near Pence: report

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is reportedly seeking information from five or more people close to former Vice President Mike Pence, according to a CNN report.

The communications director for the Jan. 6 committee confirmed to The Hill via email interest in three of the people whom CNN reported on, including Pence’s former national security adviser Keith Kellogg; Greg Jacob, his former chief counsel; and his former chief of staff, Marc Short. They had no comment on the others mentioned in the piece.

Kellogg was the first person in Pence’s inner circle to be subpoenaed by the committee on Tuesday.

According to CNN, which cites multiple sources close to the former vice president, some individuals — some of them, more than others — close to Pence may be open to providing critical information to the committee on former President Trump and his allies’ attempts to pressure Pence to overturn election results.

CNN also reports that Pence’s previous chief of staff, Nick Ayers; legislative affairs director Chris Hodgson; political adviser Marty Obst; and former special assistant Zach Bauer are potential interests to the Jan. 6 committee.

However, Obst told CNN that he had not had contact with anyone on the Jan. 6 committee and that no one had reached out to him. 

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) confirmed to CNN that the House committee was in the midst of contacting some members of Pence’s inner circle, however, he stated that they have had mixed results on responsiveness.

“I don’t want to just say ‘yes,’ when there have been some people who clearly have said ‘no.’ So we’ve had, you know, people on both sides,” replied Thompson when speaking with CNN.

Earlier this week, a federal judge denied Trump’s lawsuit that sought to block National Archives from releasing documents to the House select committee investigating the events of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol after he sued the committee last month to attempt to block the committee from receiving telephone records, visitor logs and other documents as he cited executive privilege.