Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows may be stonewalling the January 6th committee, but apparently not everyone associated with the Trump administration is willing to risk going to jail to cover for Dear Leader. CNN's Jim Acosta spoke to Rep. Zoe Lofgren this Saturday about the committee's progress so far, and she provided more details about who many of the over 200 witnesses are that they've interviewed:
A member of the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack told CNN Saturday many of the more than 200 witnesses they have interviewed are former officials from the Trump administration who came forward voluntarily.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, said some others have also volunteered testimony, but needed a subpoena for "cover." Lofgren remained relatively tight-lipped, however, and wouldn't say whether they were members of the Trump White House, the Trump campaign, or former Vice President Mike Pence's staff when pressed by CNN's Jim Acosta.
"Let me not be that specific, but let me say certainly there have been people, part of the Trump administration, who have spoken to us and provided important insights that have led us to further questions," she said when asked about whether they were White House staffers. She told CNN earlier this week in addition to the hundreds of witness interviews, the committee received nearly 25,000 documents and got more than 200 tips from its tip line.
Lofgren on Saturday dismissed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' executive privilege claim. She reiterated the committee has questions for Meadows that do not concern his conversations with former President Donald Trump, including whether Meadows used a private cell phone to communicate on January 6 and where his text messages from that day are.
Lofgren also weighed in on this reporting from ProPublica:
LOFGREN: Let me just say this. I'm not going to get into, at this point, to what evidence we have secured so far and what we're still seeking, but I will say this. It is possible to follow a money trail. We have a whole team of investigators that is following the money trail and we believe we have a very high chance of actually determining who paid for what and I think that's an important thing for people to know.
