Marc Short, Former Top Aide to Pence Confirms He Testified Before Jan. 6 Grand Jury

Marc Short, Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, at NYPD headquarters in New York City on Sept. 19, 2019. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Marc Short, who served as former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff during the Trump administration, has confirmed that he complied with a subpoena to testify in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Short appeared before the grand jury on July 22 in Washington, D.C.

“I can confirm that I did receive a subpoena for the federal grand jury and I complied with that subpoena,” he told CNN on Monday night. “Under the advice of counsel, I can’t say much more than that.”

Short’s appearance was first reported by ABC News, which reported that he was seen departing a D.C. District Court on Friday alongside his attorney.

Details of what Short said during his testimony are not known.

The former Pence aide’s testimony before the grand jury makes him the highest-profile Trump administration official known to have done so thus far.

Short served as chief of staff to Pence for nearly two years and was with the former Vice President in the Capitol on the day of the breach. He has previously said that he accompanied Pence to the Capitol building before they both went to a secure location following the breach.

He testified earlier this year before the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 and has previously said publically that he spoke with the secret service ahead of Jan. 6 to warn them that former President Donald Trump may go public with his belief that Pence could overturn the election results.

‘No Specific Intelligence’

“But I didn’t have any specific intelligence, I did not have any knowledge the Capitol would be attacked the way it was,” he said at the time.

While the former top aide declined to give further details about his subpoena to CNN or other outlets, Short did speak to ABC about the day of the breach and praised law enforcement for their efforts.

“I think that having the Capitol ransacked the way that it was, I think did present liability and danger,” he told the outlet. “And I think the Secret Service did a phenomenal job that day. I think that the bigger risk and despite the way perhaps it was characterized in the hearings last week, candidly, is that if the mob had gotten closer to the vice president, I do think there would have been a massacre in the Capitol that day.”

Short was not the only high-profile individual to appear before the federal grand jury last week.

According to the New York Times, former Pence counsel Greg Jacob also testified before the grand jury, although neither Jacob nor his attorney has confirmed the reported appearance.

The Epoch Times has contacted Jacob for comment.

Jacob also previously testified publicly during a recent televised hearing of the Jan. 6 committee.

The latest high-profile appearances before the federal grand jury came in the same week that former White House strategist Steve Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress by a jury in Washington.

Bannon was convicted on two counts after refusing to comply with a Jan. 6 select committee subpoena for testimony and documents, asserting a right to executive privilege as a former White House staff member.