Short did not respond, the source said, adding that managers also sought information from Chris Hodgson, Pence’s former head of legislative affairs, whom House managers believe he was also with Pence that day.
A former Pence employee told CNN that on January 6, then national security adviser Robert O’Brien was traveling. His deputy at the time, Matt Pottinger, and General Keith Kellogg, Pence’s national security adviser, were at the White House on the day of the rally and riot. Kellogg confirmed to CNN that he was in the Oval Office with Trump and the president’s children while the riot was taking place, during which Pence was forced to flee the Senate Chamber.
During the rebellion, Kellogg was communicating with Pence through the vice president’s team, who was communicating with the White House and getting this information to Kellogg, who was with Trump.
“Kellogg was Pence’s national security adviser, so of course they knew exactly what the circumstances were,” said the former Pence employee.
On Friday, Trump’s lawyer, Michael van der Veen, said that “at no time” did Trump know that the vice president was in danger. But first Senator Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, told reporters this week that he told Trump on January 6 that Pence had just been removed from the protesters by the U.S. Secret Service.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, hey, they just removed the Vice President, I have to go,'” Tuberville told reporters.
Another source close to Pence said that Trump’s legal team was not telling the truth when van der Veen said that “at no time” did the then president know that Pence was in danger that day. Asked if van der Veen was lying, the source said: “Yes”.
Pence’s former advisers are still furious at Trump’s actions during the riot, insisting that he never checked on the vice president while he was being pulled out of danger by his Secret Service deployment.
Pence remained silent throughout the Senate impeachment trial.