Now former president Trump had until today to appear before special counsel Jack Smith's

grand jury to tell his side of the story. As far as we know that has not happened,

Mr. Trump did not take Jack Smith up on that offer. But someone else did speak with the special

counsel's grand jury today. He is not a household name. The House January 6th Committee never

even interviewed him. But clearly this individual was in a position to know some things.

His name is William Russell. The only photos we have of Mr. William Russell are ones where he's

in the background of Trump events. And that makes sense because Mr. Russell was what is known in

the political world as an advance man. His job was to coordinate President Trump's movements,

his literal movements from one location to another, and to go ahead of the president

to make sure everything was set up. He went in advance of Trump, thus an advance man.

And that makes William Russell a potentially huge witness when it comes to January 6th.

Here was Russell with President Trump and Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 6th

and the tent at the ellipse before Trump's big speech that day. You might remember from the

House January 6th investigation that there was drama in that tent before Trump went on stage.

Trump was angry that the crowd was too small. He was mad that security was turning people away

if they had weapons. He wanted people inside the ellipse so that they could cheer him on.

But Trump's anger wasn't directed at his supporters for showing up armed.

His anger was focused on the presence of magnetometers, the metal detectors.

And the group he was directing this anger at included his advance team.

The advance team had relayed to him that the mags were free-flowing.

Everybody who wanted to come in had already come in. But he still was angry about the

extra space and wanted more people to come in. I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I

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