Where Things Stand: Another Sign That Jack Smith Jan. 6 Probe Remains Active

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A member of the Secret Service waits as US President Joe Biden walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House October 20, 2022, in Washington, DC. - Biden is travelling to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. (Phot... A member of the Secret Service waits as US President Joe Biden walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House October 20, 2022, in Washington, DC. - Biden is travelling to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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As my colleague David Kurtz unpacked in today’s Morning Memo, there’ve been reports in the last few days that suggest that special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election and Jan. 6 is very much alive and well post-Mar-a-Lago indictment — including reports of some key immunity deals.

NBC News has another report this afternoon offering an additional datapoint.

At least five or six Secret Service agents have given testimony before the grand jury in the DOJ’s Jan. 6 inquiry looking at Donald Trump’s alleged role in the insurrection and efforts to subvert the 2020 election results, NBC News reported, citing two sources familiar with the testimony. The agents were reportedly subpoenaed, but the content of the subpoenas and testimony remain unclear. It’s also not known whose security details the agents were serving under — whether they were agents close to Trump or someone else.

There are a few reasons why Secret Service testimony is of note. Obviously, knowing what agents may be able to recall about the behavior of administration officials in the days leading up to Jan. 6 would be of interest, especially given the fact that all the text messages sent between agents on Jan. 5 and 6 have been lost, due to what DHS has described as a pre-planned software update.

But there’s also the testimony from former Mark Meadows staffer Cassidy Hutchinson who told the House Jan. 6 select committee about information she learned about secondhand regarding Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 as he allegedly tried to get agents to drive him to the Capitol as rioters marched on the building. If you recall, Hutchinson testified that she was told that Trump physically tried to grab the steering wheel of the car and lunged at Secret Service agent Bobby Engel.

Trump has denied the incident, but the episode may be of interest to Smith’s probe.

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