Politics

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to Testify Before Jan. 6 Committee This Week

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson recently said under oath that Cipollone worried about getting "charged with every crime imaginable" if Trump himself went to the Capitol building on Jan. 6

By

Virginia Chamlee

Published on July 6, 2022 05:13 PM

Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, arrives to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020 — Pat Cipollone. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone has reached a deal with the bipartisan House committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol and will comply with a subpoena for his testimony this week.

Various outlets including CNN report that Cipollone will sit for a transcribed interview — which will not be broadcast live — on Friday. Sources tell CNN and other outlets that the interview with Cipollone will be videotaped, though it's unclear how — or when — it will be presented to the public.

Cipollone has been brought up before the Jan. 6 committee via testimony by others, including Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, who testified live before the U.S. House committee last Tuesday.

In her testimony — given under oath — Hutchinson said that, in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally which preceded the riots, White House counsel tried to persuade the former president not to use incendiary rhetoric in his speech.

But the lawyers were seemingly even more concerned by another prospect — that Trump himself would march or drive to the U.S. Capitol building, as he had proposed.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, is sworn-in as she testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee on the January 6th insurrection in the Cannon House Office Building on June 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan committee, which has been gathering evidence for almost a year related to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, is presenting its findings in a series of televised hearings. On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building during an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for President Joe Biden. — Cassidy Hutchinson. Brandon Bell/Getty

Hutchinson testified that Cipollone, who was at that time a White House lawyer, told her on the morning of Jan. 6 not to let Trump go to the Capitol, otherwise "we're going to get charged with every crime imaginable," including obstruction of justice or defrauding the electoral count.

"Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, 'Please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy,'" she testified. "'Keep in touch with me. We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.'"

Hutchinson's testimony came on the sixth day of public hearings held by the committee. The hearings, which began on June 9, have each featured new revelations about the events leading up to the attacks and how Trump and his allies responded.

Among the other stunning allegations that came to light in the hearings are that Trump physically assaulted a Secret Service agent in an attempt to get to the Capitol on Jan. 6; and that several Republican members of Congress sought a blanket pardon for their involvement in the former president's attempts to overturn his defeat.

According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, 58% of the nation now supports criminally charging Trump for helping to incite the mob that breached the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Joe Biden from becoming president.

That percentage is up from a similar ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in late April — before the Jan. 6 committee began hosting public hearings on its investigation.