Former national security officials told a federal grand jury they had repeatedly informed Donald Trump and his allies in the government had no authority to seize voting machines after the 2020 election.
Chad Wolf, the former acting Homeland Security secretary, and his former deputy Ken Cuccinelli each testified earlier this year about discussions the administration had about the department seizing voting equipment, according to three sources familiar with the hearings who spoke to CNN.
Cuccinelli told the grand jury that he “made clear at all times” that DHS did not have the authority to make that move, one source said.
Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security adviser, also told federal prosecutors during a closed-door interview earlier this year that the former president personally participated in a heated Oval Office meeting to discuss voting machine seizures, a source said.
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Those three officials, along with others who served under Trump who previously testified and some who have refused, may be required to return to the grand jury in Washington, D.C., to give additional testimony after a series of court rulings rejected the former president's claims of executive privilege.
Cuccinelli was spotted going into the grand jury on Tuesday, and all of those officials' testimony could prove Trump and his allies continued in efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss despite knowing their actions were unlawful -- which could bolster special counsel Jack Smith's case against the former president.
“There’s lots of ways you can show that, but certainly one of them is if they were told by people who knew what they were talking about, that there was no basis to take the actions,” said Adav Noti, an election law attorney. “I would not want to be a defense lawyer trying to argue, ‘Well, yes, my client was told that, but he never really believed it.'"