Lofgren: Many Jan. 6 panel witnesses are former Trump officials

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) on Saturday said that many of the approximately 200 witnesses interviewed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are former Trump officials who have voluntarily come forward to provide information.

During an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, Lofgren said that some officials needed a subpoena for “cover,” while others came forward of their own accord.

Pressed on if the officials who have spoken to the committee worked in the Trump White House, for the former president’s campaign or in the vice president’s office, Lofgren, who is a member of the Jan. 6 committee, refused to provide details, saying only that the testimony has provided “important insights” and has led to additional questions.

“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,” Lofgren told Acosta.

The select committee probing the Jan. 6 attack has been working for months to uncover information regarding the planning behind the protests before the rioting and what top administration officials, including former President Trump, were doing as the demonstrators stormed the Capitol.

CNN previously reported that at least five former Trump administration staffers had spoken with the committee, including Alyssa Farah, who served as director of strategic communications and assistant to the president during the Trump administration.

Lofgren told CNN earlier in the week that the panel has already interviewed hundreds of witnesses, has received almost 25,000 documents and has more than 200 tips from its tip line.

The committee is especially interested in hearing testimony and receiving documents from former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month on two charges of contempt of Congress after failing to comply with a subpoena from the committee, and Meadows failed to appear for his deposition last week.

Lofgren said on Saturday that the committee is interested in learning if Meadows used a private cellphone on Jan. 6 to communicate with others and where those records are.

“We would like to know about his use of a private cellphone and what happened to that cellphone and whether those records have been captured by the National Archives as the law requires,” Lofgren said.