Now Reading
MARC SHORT, LONG CON: Judge orders former Pence aide to testify in DOJ’s Jan 6th probe

MARC SHORT, LONG CON: Judge orders former Pence aide to testify in DOJ’s Jan 6th probe

MARC SHORT, LONG CON: Judge orders former Pence aide to testify in DOJ's Jan 6th probe

In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to testify before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ordered Mike Pence’s former Chief of Staff Marc Short to appear before a federal grand jury as part of the Justice Department’s January 6th criminal investigation.

Judge Howell ruled that Short “probably possessed information” important to the DOJ’s probe into the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol. Both Short and Kash Patel, a former Trump adviser, were seen on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, where the grand jury meets.

It was Short’s second appearance before the grand jury after he had originally declined to answer some questions because of  Trump’s false claims of executive privilege. Short has also cooperated with the January 6th House Select Committee.

Unlike Short, Patel is a Trump loyalist who has peddled false claims and conspiracies about the “deep state” and the 2020 election. Patel was a senior national security official at the Trump White House, before moving over to the Pentagon during the final months of Trump’s tenure. Trump even had plans to fire the CIA director and install Patel in her place, so he could declassify any documents that Trump believed proved his “deep state” conspiracies.

Trump blasted the January 6th House Select Committee’s investigation in an unhinged and rambling nonsensical rant he sent to the Committee Chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson. The now-subpoenaed Trump repeated debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud, blamed Democratic leaders for the insurrection (despite a video of Nancy Pelosi to disprove him), and included photos of the crowd of his supporters on that day. “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” the first line reads, falsely.

Short recently dismissed Trump’s comment that presidents can declassify documents just by thinking about it “absurd” and also hinted at a potential 2024 run for Pence.

Tara Dublin is a woefully underappreciated and unrepresented writer currently shopping a super cool novel that has nothing to do with politics while also fighting fascism on the daily.

Follow her on Twitter @taradublinrocks.

Tara Dublin
Tara is a reported opinion columnist at Occupy Democrats. She's a woefully underappreciated and unrepresented writer currently shopping for a super cool novel that has nothing to do with politics while also fighting fascism on a daily. Follow her on Twitter @taradublinrocks

© 2022 Occupy Democrats. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top