Former White House adviser Pat Cipollone will testify Friday morning after receiving a subpoena from the House special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, according to people familiar with the matter.
It’s unclear what restrictions there may be on his closed-door testimony, which is scheduled for about half a day, according to a person familiar with the matter. The session will be videotaped, but there will be some restrictions on what he will testify about in terms of direct conversations with former President Donald Trump.
Cipollone has been reluctant to testify before the commission, citing presidential privilege, but he is regularly mentioned in hearings and is key to a number of episodes the commission is examining.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity about the committee’s plans to freely describe private deliberations.
The commission issued the subpoena last week after testimony from former aide Cassidy Hutchinson, which identified the lawyer as having first-hand knowledge of potential criminal activity in the Trump White House.
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The decision followed lengthy negotiations between Cipollone and the commission, as well as sharply escalating pressure on him in recent days to testify. Committee members believe the former attorney’s testimony could be crucial to their investigation, given his closeness to Trump and his presence at key moments before, during and after the attack on the Capitol.
Cipollone sat down for an informal interview with the committee on April 13, according to a letter from the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss), but he declined to cooperate further.
“In the weeks since, the special committee has continued to gather evidence to which you are in a unique position to testify; unfortunately, however, you have declined to cooperate with us further, including by providing on-the-record testimony. We have no choice but to issue you this summons,” Thompson wrote.
A statement from Thompson and the group’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said the committee’s investigation “revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone has repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on January 6 and in the days leading up to it.”
In his testimony, Hutchinson described Cipollone as one of the last bulwarks blocking Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. She testified that on the morning of January 6, Cipollone came to her with an urgent request, saying “something like, ‘Please make sure we don’t go up to the Capitol, Cassidy.’ Keep in touch with me. We will be charged with every crime imaginable if we make this move.”
Cipollone has been mentioned frequently over the past month, as various witnesses who appeared at the commission’s public hearings cited his constant presence at emergency meetings and wise, if at times unsolicited, legal advice. But he remains invisible to the American public, neither agreeing to sit for taped interviews nor appearing as a live witness at a committee hearing.
A cigar smoker with deep connections in the Federalist Society, Cipollone has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House, avoiding high-profile media interviews and public appearances. Although Cipollone has been a fairly reliable public ally of Trump, he is not close to the former president, according to multiple people in Trump’s orbit.
For all the loyal supporters Trump surrounded himself with, Cipollone was closer to a renegade in the West Wing. The lawyer has repeatedly pushed back against some of Trump’s more conspiratorial ideas and has told aides he has to attend some of the meetings with outside advisers discussing plans to try to overturn the 2020 election results. Cipollone never agreed with Trump’s claims that the election was stolen, according to people who spoke to him at the time. After January 6, he opposed widespread pardons.
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“He and the team always said, ‘Oh, we’re going to resign,'” Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, told investigators about Cipollone’s response to Trump’s potentially illegal activity, according to a taped testimony played publicly by the commission. “We won’t be here if that happens, if that happens.” So I took it to whine to be honest with you.
Trump has frequently criticized Cipollone, saying privately that he is one of the worst lawyers of all time. He even mocked Cipollone to his face in front of other counsel, saying, “Why do I have the worst lawyer?”
Trump yelled that Cipollone always told him no, according to a former senior administration official. But some former White House officials have criticized the attorney general’s office for not doing more to fend off Trump.
The January 6 Uprising
The House Special Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot is holding a series of high-level hearings this month.
Congressional Hearings: The House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol has conducted more than 1,000 interviews over the past year. He shared his findings in a series of hearings beginning June 9. Here’s what we know about the hearings and how to watch them.
The Rebellion: On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died that day or shortly thereafter, and 140 police officers were attacked.
Inside the siege: During the riot, rioters came dangerously close to breaking into the building’s inner sanctums while lawmakers were still inside, including former Vice President Mike Pence. The Washington Post examined text messages, photos and videos to create a video timeline of what happened on January 6.
Accusations: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tario and four lieutenants were charged with a mutinous plot, joining Oath Keepers leader Stuart Rhodes and about two dozen associates who were charged for their part in the Capitol attack. They are just some of the hundreds who have been charged, many of whom received sentences significantly lighter than the government had sought.
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