Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone was deposed by the House Jan. 6, select committee. Mick Mulvaney, the former White House chief of staff, discussed with CBS News’ Catherine Herridge his thoughts about what happened in the White House during that assault on the Capitol.
Mulvaney was the chief of staff before Mark Meadows and shared a similarity with Cipollone. Mulvaney listened to Cassidy Hutchinson, a top Meadows aide, testify before the committee in June.
“Please ensure that we don’t climb up to the Capitol, Cassidy. Keep in touch. According to Hutchinson’s testimony, Cipollone stated that he was going to be charged with every crime possible if he makes that movement happen. “That movement” was a reference to Trump’s possible trip to the Capitol with a group of supporters to ceremonially count the Electoral College votes. He was eventually unable to travel to the Capitol and instead spent the rest of January 6 at the White House.
Mulvaney, a CBS News contributor, said to Herridge that he could clearly hear Pat speaking that. He can also hear the sentence in his voice echoing through his head.
Mulvaney wrote that it was a “very, very bad Day for Trump” after Hutchinson had testified.
He described Cipollone as “a man with integrity”, though he acknowledged that they didn’t get along. He also said that he hadn’t spoken to Cipollone in “a while”.
Mulvaney stated that Trump was open to conflict between his advisers in his White House experience. Mulvaney said that he would love to see people who were willing to fight and have different opinions in a room. Mulvaney, who was fired in March 2020, said that he was afraid that the model “simply failed” and that “the normal people weren’t there — that it was only the crazy.”
Mulvaney was unaware of what was going on inside the White House, even though the Capitol was under attack January 6.
He told Herridge that no one would answer his calls or return his texts. He said, “I tweeted at President of the United States in an effort to get someone to engage.”
Mulvaney claimed that he found out more about the incident through a text conversation with his friend, who he claimed was at the White House on January 6. Mulvaney claimed that the conversation took place while Hutchinson was preparing to testify.
Mulvaney stated, “I texted and I told him, ‘You know what, Cassidy sounds like Mark was either totally incompetent at his job or was having an emotional breakdown.'” Mulvaney added. “And the person replied that it was a little of both.”
Mulvaney was astonished to hear Hutchinson’s account of events. Mulvaney said that he heard nothing but a “complete breakdown in operation of the West Wing.”
He stated that the chief of staff’s job is to tell the president things he doesn’t want to hear.
Grace Kazarian and Zoe Lipner contributed reporting.
