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By Ryan Nobles, Zachary Cohen, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild, CNN
The House select committee investigating the Jan.6 riot on the U.S. Capitol interviewed Trump-era Justice Department official Richard Donoghue last week, a source familiar with the committee’s work confirmed to CNN.
Politics was the first to report on the news of Donoghue’s appearance on Friday.
The revelation comes as the select committee said it had started questioning witnesses privately, but did not disclose who sat down for questioning. The panel sent two sets of assignments as he continues to testify from witnesses and other relevant documents in what sources have said probably marks the largest Congressional investigation of its kind in history.
Donoghue served as Acting Assistant Attorney General from December 2020 until Trump’s term ended in January 2021, and was in office on the day of the January 6 insurgency.
He took handwritten notes during a call betweenPresident Donald Trump and then Acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen, where Trump put pressure on the pair take official action to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
The select committee did not comment on a CNN request for information about Donoghue’s appearance.
A key deadline is fast approaching this week for four close collaborators and allies of Trump who were subpoenaed for private depositions and files in the first round of the committee. All document requests are due by Thursday.
The committee talks and the subpoenas build on the volumes of documents the panel has previously requested from government agencies and the National Archives, which serve as the Trump administration’s repository for the White House, regarding recruitment, preparation and coordinating gatherings leading up to and on January 6.
As CNN previously reported, House Select chairman Bennie Thompson told CNN last week that some of the people the committee wants to hear are providing information on a voluntary basis.
“Some people have contacted us, who want to come and speak voluntarily, who worked for the administration. There is therefore no reason to issue a subpoena. We just have to get the information they included in our body of work and go from there, ”said the Mississippi Democrat.
The-CNN-Wire
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