The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol issued a subpoena for former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. This is a crucial figure in the last days of Trump’s White House and the committee has publicly pleaded with him to appear.
Although Cipollone has been interviewed by the committee in an informal interview, Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has asked for Cipollone to speak publicly.
“Our committee is sure that Donald Trump doesn’t want Mr. Cipollone testifying here. Our evidence shows that Mr. Cipollone’s office and he tried to do the right thing. They attempted to stop President Trump’s January 6th plans. You will hear testimony today from other Trump White House staffers explaining what Mr. Cipollone did and said, including on January 6, 2017,” she stated on June 21 at the fourth hearing. “But, we believe the American people should hear directly from Mr. Cipollone.”
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), wrote to Cipollone a letter regarding the subpoena. He stated that Cipollone had “declined” to further cooperate. He stated that the committee wanted to talk with him about several issues, including Trump’s attempts to subvert the election and a scheme to submit fake ballots.
The testimony at the hearings has so far shown Cipollone to have been present at key moments in the days leading up to Jan. 6, and the day of the attack. According to Steven Engel, a former official at the Department of Justice said that he tried to stop Trump’s replacement of the department’s leadership by Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ lawyer. Clark proposed to send a false letter claiming fraud in an election that Cipollone called a “murder–suicide agreement.” Jason Miller, a former Trump campaign aide, testified that Cipollone challenged John Eastman about his belief that Vice President Mike Pence could unilaterally end the electoral count.
Cipollone was a prominent figure at Tuesday’s explosive hearing, which featured Cassidy Hutchinson (ex-White House aide) and Cipollone. He is believed to have been a figure in trying stop Trump from visiting the Capitol Jan. 6, and pleading with him to end the riot when it started.
Hutchinson testified that “Mr. Cipollone stated something like, “Please make sure we don’t go up the Capitol, Cassidy. Keep in touch. If we make this movement happen, we’ll be charged with every crime possible.
Hutchinson stated that when the violence at Capitol began on that day, Cipollone begged Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for help. The two then went into Trump’s private dining room, where he is believed to have spent most of that afternoon.
Cipollone was also believed to have been part a group that convinced Trump to post a video the following day. There was also a heated debate between the White House counsel and Cipollone over the language to include.
Cipollone was an important defender of Trump’s innocence during his impeachment trial. He was previously a government official during William Barr’s first tenure as the Justice Department’s chief in the early 1990s. As NPR reported at time of first impeachment trial, he served alongside Barr and Leonard Leo, a conservative legal icon, as directors of Catholic Information Center.
He was Trump’s White House counsel and played a central role in judicial nominations. This included the Supreme Court confirmation for Justice Amy Coney Barrett right before the 2020 election.
