Jan. 6 committee deepens probe into Trump cabinet: Sources

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is working to secure testimony from a growing number of officials in former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who reportedly discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recently sat with committee investigators for a transcribed interview, the sources said.

ABC News previously reported that Pompeo is expected to speak with the committee in the coming days, though his interview is not officially scheduled.

Among the officials actively negotiating with the committee are former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and former acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, sources familiar with the negotiations said.

Wolf would also be able to speak to Trump’s desire to order the federal government to seize voting machines.

The engagement shows that even after the committee’s round of dramatic public hearings, it continues to pursue additional evidence about what the administration’s most senior officials knew about Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6.

Committee investigators are not only focused on the discussions surrounding the 25th Amendment that occurred within the Cabinet, but also Cabinet members’ concerns after the attack on the Capitol about Trump’s decision-making, including his potential conversations with world leaders.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that Ratcliffe “didn’t want much to do with the post-election period.” Hutchinson said that Ratcliffe “felt that there could be dangerous repercussions, in terms of precedent set for elections, for our democracy, for the 6th. You know, he was hoping that we would concede.”

The committee also has expressed interest in speaking with other senior Trump officials like Robert O’Brien, the former national security adviser.

Representatives for Mnuchin, Ratcliffe, Wolf and O’Brien did not immediately respond to ABC’s request for comment.

Another area of focus are Cabinet officials who resigned in the wake on Jan. 6: former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

They will potentially join a growing list of officials who have already cooperated with committee investigators, including former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia. Former Attorney General Bill Barr also sat with committee investigators for a deposition.

A spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee declined to comment.

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified that Scalia wanted to convene a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 7 2021. Scalia told the committee he requested the meeting that morning because “I thought that trying to work within the administration to steady the ship was likely to have greater value than simply resigning.”

The committee has been releasing new information leading up to the release of the anticipated September report on their findings.

In an audio clip released by the panel earlier this week, then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told investigators there was “no order” from Trump to have 10,000 National Guard troops ready for deployment ahead of Jan. 6. Miller was responding to a Mark Meadows interview with Fox News from February 2021 where he claimed that it was a “given” that Miller had told thousands of troops to be at the ready.

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