Ex-pence aides

Trump’s attempt to maintain secrecy came up most recently in the federal grand jury testimony of Marc Short and Greg Jacob, close aides to former Vice President Mike Pence.

Before their recent grand jury testimony, prosecutors, along with lawyers for Short and Jacob, outlined some questions they would avoid in order to steer clear of potential privilege issues, with the expectation that they could return to those questions at a later date, the people briefed on the matter said.

Neither would answer questions about their direct interactions with Trump when they testified in the criminal investigation in recent weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, and Jacob, his former chief counsel, both were present in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4, 2021, where Trump pressured Pence to go along with a plan presented by attorney John Eastman to block certification of the election results.

Despite the privilege issues, the witnesses spent hours answering questions to the grand jury about the pressure campaign on Pence, which Trump was part of, while avoiding direct questions about the former president, according to people briefed on the matter.

The questions prosecutors asked indicated that investigators are zeroing in on the role of Trump and others such as Eastman, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others in the broader scheme to block the certification of election results and to organize a set of fake electors who would keep Trump in office, according to the people briefed.