NEW FLIP: Ex-Trump Staffer Cuts Deal With Jack Smith Jan 6 Election Interference Probe

Former Trump staffer Mike Roman has cut a deal to cooperate with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into ex-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Even as Trump faces a trial on 37 counts related to violations of the Espionage Act, developments in Smith’s other investigations continue to unfold.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Kaitlan Collins reported Thursday that Roman, a former campaign official, has reached a proffer deal with Smith’s team.

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Collins detailed her scoop for guest host John Berman:

BERMAN: So Kaitlan, what have you learned?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yes, my colleague Zach Cohen and I have now learned that Michael Roman — who is not a household name, but he was a campaign official on the Trump 2020 campaign — is now cooperating with prosecutors from Jack Smith’s team, not the team that is investigating the documents investigation, which, of course, we’ve seen playing out in Miami. This is the one into January 6 and the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results.

And why it matters that Mike Roman is now cooperating is that he may not have to appear before the grand jury in a formal way. He did get a subpoena earlier this year. They did seize his phone a few months ago. So two notable factors there, obviously. He could speak to them in a more informal setting.

And it is notable, because he is someone who was involved with the fake elector scheme and we know that is what Jack Smith’s team has been zeroing in on in recent weeks and in inquiries they’ve had with certain witnesses, people they brought before the grand jury, that has been something that they’ve been talking about.

And this campaign aide is someone who was part of the coordination effort with advisers for the campaign, attorneys for the campaign in these seven states that Trump lost where they were trying to develop this alternate set of electors.

And so it remains to be seen what his cooperation could mean, what he could offer to Jack Smith’s team. But it is notable, as we have seen, You know, we’ve all been talking about the documents case, but there has been quite an uptick in activity when it comes to the January 6 case, raising the question of whether or not we could see indictments soon.

BERMAN: All right, a cooperating witness for the January 6 case, it seems perhaps in the area of fake electors. What happened with Mike Roman? The January 6th committee wanted to talk to him, yes?

COLLINS: Yes. He was someone who he pled the fifth for a lot of it. He did say and make some comments to them. They asked about Rudy Giuliani a lot. Rudy Giuliani has been someone they’ve asked about in a lot of these interviews, as well as the other attorneys that you saw on TV at the time.

He is someone who said he would speak about how he did not talk to Rudy Giuliani before the 2020 election, but when he was asked about speaking to Giuliani after the 2020 election, he used his Fifth Amendment rights.

BERMAN: That’s interesting. So you have sort of a selective pleading the Fifth on certain things when you do and when you don’t.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.