Pete Marocco, a former Trump administration official who was reportedly caught on camera inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is now working with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition on national security personnel matters, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Marocco, who drew internal fire when he worked in numerousagencies in the Trump administration and more recently was a conservative activist in Dallas, has been seen at the transition’s Florida headquarters working on hiring, including for the State Department, according to two of the people who saw him. One of the people said he was interviewing candidates this week.
Last month, the online sleuth group Sedition Hunters identified Marocco and his wife Merritt’s alleged presence inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 using social media posts, video analysis and facial recognition software. Asked about the allegation by D Magazine, Marocco didn’t address whether he had been at the Capitol, instead calling it “petty smear tactics and desperate personal attacks.” Neither Marocco nor his wife have been charged.
Marocco didn’t respond to requests for comment. Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Marocco’s “valuable knowledge on national security policy has been a tremendous benefit to the Trump-Vance transition effort.”
She added: “Democrats and their allies in the media who think they are going to obstruct our ability to deliver on this mandate by going back to the same January 6 playbook of smears and faux outrage that was soundly rejected by the American people will be disappointed.”