Former Transportation Sec. Elaine Chao met with Jan. 6 committee: report

Chloe Folmar
·2 min read
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Trump-era Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao met with the House committee investigating the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, sources reported to CNN.

The former Transportation secretary, who resigned from former President Trump’s Cabinet on Jan. 7, 2021, is one of multiple figures related to Trump who are speaking with the committee.

Sources said that the Jan. 6 committee is also in talks with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

DeVos joined Chao in resigning the day after the attack on the Capitol.

Both Cabinet members also floated the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment, which deals with the presidential order of succession, to remove Trump from office after the incident.

The proposal to remove Trump from office using the 25th Amendment was also discussed in the committee’s meeting with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, sources told CNN.

The Hill has reached out to the Jan. 6 committee, Chao, DeVos and O’Brien for comment on the talks.

Reports of discussions between the committee and allies of the Trump administration come days after the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home using a search warrant.

The Department of Justice moved to unseal the warrant on Thursday after upheaval among the public and political figures.

“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” wrote lawyers for the Justice Department in a court filing.

Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke publicly on Thursday for the first time since he authorized the raid, saying that “All Americans are entitled to the even-handed application of the law, to due process of law and to the presumption of innocence.”

“Federal law, long standing department rules and our ethical obligations prevent me from providing further details as to the basis of the search at this time,” he added.

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