00:00And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. Out front tonight, a Trump White House insider testifies.
00:05Tonight, CNN has learned that former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Mark Short,
00:10testified before a federal grand jury investigating January 6th. He is believed to be the highest
00:16ranking official in Trump's White House to cooperate with the federal investigation.
00:20Now, in just a moment, I am going to speak with Mark. On the day before the January 6th rally,
00:24he grew concerned about President Trump's attack on Pence. He warned of the Secret Service.
00:28And here's a portion of his testimony to the January 6th Select Committee.
00:34And on January 6th, Short was with the Vice President, who had to be rushed to safety
00:38when an angry mob of Trump supporters was trying to hunt him down for refusing to overturn the election.
00:46This all comes as we're learning that on January 7th, the day after the mob of extremists was calling
00:52for Pence's head, Trump didn't want to condemn the violence. Not only did he wait hours in the
00:57face of pleas from everyone around him to condemn it. But the January 6th committee is to both of
01:01you. Brian, let's start with Mark Short, highest ranking White House official we know of to testify
01:05before the federal grand jury. So this is the Department of Justice. We know he also testified
01:08before the January 6th committee. Doing so Friday, he said it's the only time he's done so.
01:13How significant is the development?
01:15It's hugely. It's January 4th meeting in the Oval Office. That's going right to the heart of it.
01:20That's front of Trump. I admit, it's not legal what I'm advocating.
01:24And Alyssa, you know what's amazing? This meeting, you know, obviously Mark Short was there. He was
01:29there every step of the way, right? I mean, you know how important he was. How important could
01:33his testimony be just in terms of his proximity and presence in every meeting?
01:37Yeah. And I've emphasized this when there's, you know, this push that Vice President Pence
01:40himself should either be cooperating. He would have been there. This, to me, indicates they're
01:44looking into the DOJ pressure campaign to a lot of Pence world, the overwhelming pressure that was put
01:50on the... And thank God, I have to say, because Mark Short was just as likely going to be a
01:53candidate
01:54again. He may very well be president again, and it will not be...
01:58Obviously. I mean, I don't mean specifically. I mean, generally, Ryan, either, right? It's not
02:02going to be that character, caricature of a person. So, you know, to this context, the January 6th,
02:10the January 7th speech that the president, the then president gave, that he crossed out the crucial
02:15lines. That, you know, what does that say to you? And it is, I mean, you know, it's obvious it
02:20was
02:20him, but his own daughter saying, well, yeah. Exact same thing. So, Alyssa, here's the thing. You,
02:25this is something you would have seen so many times and experienced so many times yourself in your
02:29role. One of the lines he crossed out that addressed the rioters specifically was, I want
02:33to be very clear, you do not represent me. Take us inside that. Yeah. So, Trump is someone who speaks
02:38also. He's actually quite deliberate. Very specific. In the language, I remember a terrible...
02:43...telling that out was because he believes those are very special people. He had said
02:47that the day prior. He believes they're his people. Ryan, thank you. And next, it may be
02:52the biggest legal threat to... Here in our program, our guest, Mark Short, referred to some allegations
02:55against Congressman Matt Gaetz. We should note Matt Gaetz has not been charged, let alone convicted.
03:01Thanks for joining us. AC 360 starts now.
