Update on March Short visit to the Grand Jury

In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said.

Trump appealed, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short’s appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.

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Grand jury matters are typically secret, but The Washington Post has reported that prosecutors are working with grand jurors and looking extensively at the actions of Trump and his advisers in the period between the November 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021. Short’s case came to light on Sept. 22 after Trump attorneys M. Evan Corcoran, Timothy C. Parlatore and Rowley were seen at federal court in Washington when there were no publicly scheduled matters, along with a lead Jan. 6 federal prosecutor, Thomas Windom.

According to people familiar with the matter, Short had appeared before a grand jury in downtown Washington in July, but declined to answer certain questions after Flood argued the communications of top White House advisers are protected — and presented written documentation from Trump’s lawyers that they were asserting executive privilege.

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Short and Windom were spotted at court again on Thursday, as was former Trump national security and defense aide Kash Patel.

The executive privilege battle caps the latest high-stakes confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump.

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Other senior Trump White House officials could also be affected by the outcome of the court ruling involving Short. Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Pat Philbin appeared before the Jan. 6 grand jury in early September, spending about four hours behind closed doors with grand jurors. It is not known if they declined to answer any questions citing a Trump invocation of privilege, or if prosecutors have objected.

  WaPo