Reports: Matthew Pottinger, ex-nat'l security aide under Trump, to testify at Jan 6 hearing

July 19 (UPI) -- Matthew Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, is expected to testify in person on Thursday before the House Jan. 6 committee, according to media reports.

Pottinger was the highest-ranked White House official to resign immediately after the attack at the U.S. Capitol and is one of two former Trump White House officials who will testify at the panel's prime-time hearing on Thursday. The other is former White House aide Sarah Matthews.

CNN, Axios and The New York Times reported that Pottinger will testify at the hearing.

Matthews, who was deputy White House press secretary, also resigned on the night of the U.S. Capitol attack and said at the time that she was "deeply disturbed" by what she saw. She has since criticized Trump for his handling of the events on Jan. 6.

The committee on Thursday is expected to use video testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to detail what happened on Jan. 6.

Pottinger was brought into the Trump White House by former national security adviser Michael Flynn and was influential in many of the former president's policies on China.

Testimony from Pottinger and Matthews has previously been shown during the committee's hearings in the form of videotaped depositions.

The hearing on Thursday will be the last one for at least a few weeks and is being seen as the climax after seven hearings over several weeks, during which the committee examined Trump's efforts to stay in power despite losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. The efforts culminated in a fiery rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, during which Trump urged supporters to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee, said on Sunday that the panel also expects to receive text messages from the U.S. Secret Service from around the day of the attack at some point before Thursday's hearing. The committee subpoenaed Secret Service records last week after it was reported that the agency had texts from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6.

Earlier this month, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon agreed to testify before the committee after Trump waived executive privilege, but any such testimony has not yet been announced. Bannon is presently on trial for contempt of Congress over defying the committee's subpoena.

The committee previously said it would not negotiate terms for Bannon to testify until he produced subpoenaed documents.

Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson said that Thursday's hearing will be the last one "at this point," but more are expected later on, perhaps sometime in August.