Pence's Former Top Aide, Once Banned From the White House, Cooperating With Jan. 6 Committee

Marc Short, former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, who was once barred from the White House by former President Donald Trump due to resisting pressure Trump was putting on Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is cooperating with the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, according to The Associated Press.

As Pence's chief of staff, Short was in the Capitol with the Vice President at the time of the insurrection, including fleeing as they breached the building, with some looking to actively harm Pence.

The House's Jan. 6 panel has reportedly interviewed over 250 people to date, most of them voluntary, from all sides of the events that unfolded that day, from government officials to people that planned the original rally where Trump spoke outside and encouraged his supporters to act. The committee said they plan to hold a series of hearings in 2022 to make their findings public.

Short was present for several meetings between the election and Jan. 6 and reportedly saw firsthand the pressure Trump was putting on Pence to intervene in the certification of the election results, the AP reported.

Short joins another former Pence aide to speak to the committee. Alyssa Farah, a former press secretary who also filled other roles and left the White House before Jan. 6, voluntarily spoke to the committee. She tweeted at Trump multiple times on Jan. 6, pleading for him to calm his supporters as the protests turned to violent riots that ended with five people dead, including two Capitol police officers.

Trump has continuously criticized the committee and promoted claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election that have yet to be substantiated by evidence and have frequently been rejected by election experts and judges.

For more reporting from The Associated Press, see below.

Short is cooperating with the panel after receiving a subpoena, according to a person familiar with the matter, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private interactions.

Trump was openly criticizing his vice president even as the insurrectionists broke into the building because Pence had said he would not try to unilaterally reject the electoral count as Congress certified President Joe Biden's victory. Pence didn't have the legal power to do so, but Trump pressured him anyway.

CNN first reported Short's cooperation and subpoena.

Some people close to Pence were furious about the way that Trump tried to scapegoat the former vice president on Jan. 6 and became even more incensed after Pence, his closest aides and his family were put in physical danger by the rioters.

In a series of tweets as the insurrection unfolded, Farah urged Trump to condemn the riots as they were happening and call on his supporters to stand down.

"Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump," she tweeted. "You are the only one they will listen to. For our country!"

The panel in November subpoenaed Keith Kellogg, who was Pence's national security adviser, writing in the subpoena that he was with Trump as the attack unfolded and may "have direct information about the former president's statements about, and reactions to, the Capitol insurrection." The committee wrote that according to several accounts, Kellogg urged Trump to send out a tweet aimed at helping to control the crowd.

The panel has also interviewed election officials in crucial swing states such as Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania who were pressured by the former president and his allies as he pushed false claims of election fraud.