The House Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Wednesday.
A letter sent to Cipollone says the subpoena compels him to appear for a deposition on July 6 and notes that the panel seeks his testimony on former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election as part of its examination of the Capitol riot.
“The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on January 6th and in the days that preceded,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) said in a statement.
SECRET SERVICE WASN’T CONTACTED BY JAN. 6 COMMITTEE BEFORE HUTCHINSON TESTIMONY
“While the Select Committee appreciates Mr. Cipollone’s earlier informal engagement with our investigation, the committee needs to hear from him on the record, as other former White House counsels have done in other congressional investigations,” they added. “Any concerns Mr. Cipollone has about the institutional prerogatives of the office he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony.”
The subpoena comes one day after Cassidy Hutchinson, a onetime aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified before the committee and said Cipollone told her that there were “serious legal concerns” if Trump went to the Capitol after he delivered a speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, the day of the riot, which disrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
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Cipollone was not under oath when he previously met with the committee for an interview, and the discussion was not transcribed, the New York Times reported in April. Some other close aides to Trump, including Meadows, have resisted fully cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee, even when subpoenaed. Although they were referred for prosecution on contempt of Congress claims, the Justice Department declined to prosecute Meadows and another former official, Dan Scavino, who cited Trump’s claims of executive privilege. Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was indicted after failing to comply with a subpoena.
“A person close to Pat Cipollone said he has been cooperative with the committee with Trump’s permission, but that there are serious institutional concerns and privilege issues that the person said have been recognized by the committee,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted last week.
“Of course a subpoena was necessary before the former White House counsel could even consider transcribed testimony before the committee,” she tweeted on Wednesday, citing a lawyer familiar with Cipollone’s deliberations. “Pat Cipollone has previously provided an informal interview at the committee’s request. Now that a subpoena has been issued, it’ll be evaluated as to matters of privilege that might be appropriate.”
