The Mercury News Weekend

Sources: Trump aide Miller speaks to panel

- By Eric Tucker and Farnoush Amiri

>> Stephen Miller, who served as a top aide to President Donald Trump, was questioned for hours Thursday by the congressio­nal committee investigat­ing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrecti­on.

Miller was a senior adviser for policy during the Trump administra­tion and a central figure in many of the Republican's decisions. He had resisted previous efforts by the committee, filing a lawsuit last month seeking to quash a subpoena for his phone records.

Miller was interviewe­d virtually for about eight hours, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private testimony. A second person also confirmed that Miller appeared before the committee. A spokespers­on for the committee said the panel had no comment, and Miller did not immediatel­y return a message seeking comment.

Miller is the latest in a series of sit-downs the committee has scored with those in Trump's inner circle as lawmakers move closer to the former president by questionin­g people who were with him on the day of the attack or were his confidants in the weeks leading up to it.

His appearance comes weeks after Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, also agreed to sit down with congressio­nal investigat­ors, months after the committee had first reached out.

Members of the panel said Kushner's testimony in late March, which lasted more than six hours, was helpful. Ivanka Trump, who was with her father in the White House on Jan. 6, was questioned for eight hours last week as congressio­nal investigat­ors tried to piece together her father's failed effort to delay the certificat­ion of the 2020 election results.

The nine-member panel subpoenaed the former Trump adviser in November along with Steve Bannon and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the panel's chairman, said at the time that Miller was aware of and had participat­ed in “efforts to spread false informatio­n about alleged voter fraud” and had encouraged state legislatur­es to alter the outcome of the 2020 election by appointing alternate electors.

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