House committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol riots has spoken to at least five former staffers of the Donald Trump administration, who talked voluntarily, US media reports said.

Committee’s lawyers have also reached out to a range of other Trump aides to know if anyone of them would open up in front of it, without the threat of a subpoena, CNN reported.

Also read: Jan 6 committee defers demand for several Trump administration records

The five former Trump aides have said that they got a direct email or text from counsel for the committee asking if they would talk to the congressional investigators to give some context on what actually happened before the riots. Some people have declined the committee’s request and some of them ignored it altogether. The committee has reached out to both junior-level staffers and more seasoned officials.  

The outreach is for getting some context around the activities in the White House during the day of the attack on the Capitol and not because of staffers’ involvement in the riots.

The engagement with the staffers could shed some light on the actions of former President Donald Trump and his supporters in the lead-up to the riot.

The committee is yet to comment on the report suggesting the talks with Trump staffers.

Reports of the engagement come as Trump is pursuing legal action on the committee’s investigation. Trump has filed a lawsuit against the committee and the National Archives in an attempt to keep documents regarding his Presidency a secret. Four former Trump administration officials Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Stephen Bannon, and Kash Patel have been instructed not to provide any testimony or documents to the investigative panel, claiming they are protected “from disclosure by the executive and other privileges, including among others the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges,” CNN reported.

White House counsel Dana Remus told the National Archives on Monday that President Joe Biden is refusing privilege over additional documents that Trump argues should remain secret.