Guilfoyle and her attorneys abruptly ended their conversation with the committee due to concerns about the ground rules.
Guilfoyle is a long-standing adviser to President Donald Trump and was to meet with the committee virtually on February 25, after discussions between her lawyers and the committee.
Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s oldest son, is engaged to Guilfoyle and is one the most prominent confidants of Trump family members to meet with the committee.
She spoke at the rally at Ellipse on January 6, 2021.
Because they weren’t authorized to discuss Friday’s deliberations, the four people who were familiar with Friday’s exchange asked for anonymity.
They said that Guilfoyle and her lawyers became concerned after Guilfoyle showed up at Friday’s virtual meeting. This was because they saw other participants, including representatives Adam Schiff from California and Jamie Raskin, both Democrats.
Guilfoyle asked three people why they were there, and not just lawyers or committee staff.
One of the people stated that Kim “bumbled and said this wasn’t my understanding”. Another person described her as “outraged” because she believed that this conversation would be more informative than a formal deposition.
Guilfoyle stated to the committee that “this is not my understanding”. She then told the committee she would stop talking until her lawyers have had more discussions with the committee regarding the format.
Tim Mulvey, the Committee’s spokesperson, stated that Guilfoyle would not cooperate with the committee and suggested that she would be subject to a subpoena. “Ms. Guilfoyle is a source of information relevant to the Select Committee. She has also provided documents pertinent to our investigation. She had been expected to do the same as many other witnesses: take part in a voluntary transcript interview with staff members and committee members. Ms. Guilfoyle now refuses to participate in a voluntary transcribed interview with staff and committee members, which forced the Select Committee to force her to testify at an upcoming hearing.
Guilfoyle agreed Friday’s conversation, with the understanding that a subpoena might be issued to her if she didn’t engage with the committee. Two people stated.
CBS News reached Joseph Tacopina as counsel for Guilfoyle and issued a statement accusing them of leaking details about the exchange.
According to the statement, “Ms. Guilfoyle under threat of subpoena agreed to meet only with counsel for Select Committee in good faith to provide true and pertinent evidence.” “However, Ms. Guilfoyle’s presence revealed the Committee’s untrustworthiness as its members are notorious for leaking information. After counsel had briefly stopped the meeting to discuss the matter, our concerns about Committee members’ presence were confirmed. The Committee leaked the news in less than two minutes to the media. This is similar to what Chairman [Bennie] Thompson did a month ago when he revealed to the press that the client’s phone records had not been confidentially subpoenaed.”
The statement went on to assert that when Guilfoyle’s lawyers contacted the committee about this story, “they too were shocked and appalled” and believed this story was based on a politically-motivated “leak.”
The statement stated that it was now clear to them that their real interest was to sandbag the client and use today’s interview as a political tool against President Trump and his supporters.
