Ex-Trump press secretary Grisham to meet with Jan. 6 committee -source

Jan 5 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham will meet on Wednesday evening with the U.S. congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

Grisham was White House press secretary from July 2019 until April 2020, when she became chief of staff for Trump’s wife Melania.

Grisham resigned from that job on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, after mobs of the former president’s supporters stormed the Capitol to try to prevent certification of President Joe Biden’s November 2020 election victory.

Grisham released a tell-all book last year that accused Trump of mistreating his staff and placating Russian President Vladimir Putin.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 8, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Grisham’s cooperation with the House of Representatives Select Committee was first reported by CNN, which said her decision followed a phone call with U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the committee, who encouraged her to meet with the panel.

The investigation into the worst attack on Congress since the War of 1812 has largely played out behind closed doors so far. The Select Committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses about the violence by Trump supporters and Trump’s response to it.

Around 140 police officers were assaulted during the riot, according to the Department of Justice. One officer who battled rioters died the day after the attack and four who guarded the Capitol later died by suicide. Four rioters also died, including a woman who was shot by a police officer while trying to climb through a shattered window in a door inside the Capitol leading to an area known as the Speaker’s Lobby.

A current Trump spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, said in a Dec. 27 court filing that he has cooperated extensively with the committee, producing more than 1,700 pages of documents and provided about four hours of sworn testimony.

(This story corrects the description of shooting of rioter in paragraph 7)

Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Boston; Editing by Scott Malone and Grant McCool

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