The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has interviewed more than 150 people thus far, a select committee aide confirmed to The Hill, a sign that the panel is quietly speaking to a number of people while publicly pushing for testimony from former high-ranking officials.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the panel, told Politico on Thursday that the group has spoken to a “whole range” of individuals connected to the January riots.
“We’ve had, actually, over 150 interviews with a whole range of people connected to the events, connected to understanding what happens, so that just gives you a sense. It is a range of engagements — some formal interviews, some depositions,” Cheney told Politico, which first reported on the updated number of people interviewed.
She added that “there really is a huge amount of work underway that is leading to real progress for us.”
Cheney’s comments come as the select committee is ramping up its efforts to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The Hill has learned that the panel will convene Friday to hear testimony from Jeffrey Clark, a former mid-level lawyer at the Department of Justice (DOJ) who was involved in former President Trump’s efforts to persuade the DOJ to advance his claims of election fraud.
At least five former staffers from the Trump administration have also spoken with the select committee on a volunteer basis, according to previous reporting from CNN, including Alyssa Farah, the former director of strategic communications and assistant to the president.
While speaking with individuals behind the scenes, the panel has publicly been pursuing testimony from a number of top ex-Trump administration officials who have not yet complied with subpoenas.
Most notably, the House voted last month to hold former Trump White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon in criminal contempt for not responding to a subpoena by the stated deadline. He refused to sit before the committee for a deposition or hand over requested documents.
Additionally, The Hill learned last week that the panel granted a postponement to Dan Scavino, who previously served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for communications. He was originally asked to appear before the committee for a deposition on Oct. 15.
Clark was also granted a postponement last week, but is now slated to sit for a deposition on Friday.
CNN previously reported that Scavino is continuing to “engage” with the committee.
Cheney and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, revealed in a statement early last month that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Kashyap Patel, the chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and a former House and White House staffer, were both “engaging” with the panel so far.