A Donald Trump aide who was present with the former president on January 6, 2021 has appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
William Russell is a former White House special assistant and the deputy director of presidential advance operations who now works for Trump's 2024 campaign. Russell answered questions under oath at a Washington D.C. courtroom on Thursday as part of the expansive investigation, reported The Washington Post and NBC News. Trump denies all wrongdoing and has frequently accused Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe of being a "witch hunt."
In a post on Truth Social Thursday attacking the federal investigations into him, Trump wrote: "THE DEMOCRAT PROSECUTORS WAITED YEARS TO BRING CHARGES SO THAT THEY COULD INTERFERE WITH THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. THEY ARE GETTING, HOWEVER, BIG BLOWBACK!!!"
This is not the first time that Russell has appeared before the grand jury, although it is unclear what questions he was posed. When Russell was subpoenaed in September 2022, it is believed that prosecutors wanted to speak to him about the events that led up to the January 6 Capitol riot, reported The New York Times.
Newsweek has contacted Russell's attorney, Stan Woodward, for comment via email.
Russell's reported second grand-jury appearance arrives amid rising speculation that Trump is due to be indicted by Smith's investigation in the 2020 election and the events leading up to the January 6 attack. The former president has said he received a letter from Smith's office informing him that he is under federal investigation, usually a sign that an indictment is forthcoming.
Several news outlets, including the Associated Press, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reported that Trump may be facing charges related to conspiracy to defraud the United States; violation of civil rights; and tampering with a witness, victim, or informant. Newsweek has not been able to verify these reports.
Russell was present with Trump for most of the day on January 6. He may provide vital information on the former president's actions as the violence at the Capitol was taking place.
Last July, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack held a presentation focusing on the 187 minutes between the former president's speech at the Ellipse prior to the riot breaking out and him telling his supporters to end the violence.
The panel played testimony from those close to the former president, including Pat Cipollone, Trump's top White House lawyer. The recordings said Trump watched the attack by his supporters unfold on television at the White House for most of those 187 minutes. He made no attempt to call any government agency or law enforcement department for assistance in ending the riot.
"The mob was accomplishing President Trump's purpose, so of course he didn't intervene," former congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the committee, said during the July 2022 hearing. He has been a critic of Trump since denouncing the GOP as a "creepy" party that he does not recognize.
Trump himself said he didn't hear about the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol until "afterwards" and was "not watching television," during an interview with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. She is the author of Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
