Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting to be highlighted in Jan. 6 hearings -- and may feature ​Trump senior staffer

The upcoming select committee prime-time hearings could feature two senior staffers to Donald Trump who were participants in a key Oval Office on the Sunday before the attempted coup.

"The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is in active discussions with former White House counsel Pat Cipollone regarding a potential public appearance in one of their upcoming hearings, according to sources familiar with the matter," ABC News reported Tuesday. "Cipollone was one of the few aides who was with then-President Donald Trump in the West Wing on Jan. 6. ABC News previously reported that in the days following the attack on the Capitol, he advised Trump that Trump could potentially face civil liability in connection with his role encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol."

Former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin has also had an informal interview with the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"The committee hopes to secure Cipollone's public testimony on a panel with Rosen and his then-deputy Richard Donoghue, along with one of DOJ's former top attorneys, Steve Engel, sources said. Both Rosen and Donoghue have received formal invitations from the committee to appear," ABC News reported. "Both Cipollone and Philbin were part of a Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting where Trump insisted on replacing [acting Attorney General Jeffey Rosen with Trump loyalist Jeffrey Clark, who had vowed to use the Department of Justice to investigate the election."

At the meeting, Trump reportedly said, "One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election."

There was a lot that reportedly went on during the Sunday afternoon meeting.

"The officials in that meeting also debated a proposal by Clark to send a letter to state officials in Georgia urging officials in the state to investigate unfounded claims of fraud with an eye toward overturning President Joe Biden's victory in the state," ABC News reported. "According to Donoghue, Cipollone and Philbin made it clear to Trump that they would resign if Clark were installed, with Cipollone describing the Georgia letter as a 'murder-suicide pact' that would 'damage anyone and anything that it touches,' according to a Senate committee report released last year that detailed instances where Trump and his allies sought to use the DOJ to overturn the election."

Read the full report.