Ex-Trump White House counsel Cipollone to testify before Jan. 6 panel: report
Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone has agreed to sit for a transcribed interview with the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.
According to the New York Times, Cipollone will meet with the panel by Friday and is not expected to testify publicly.
Cipollone previously sat for an off-the-record interview in April and was subpoenaed by the committee on June 29 — one day after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson detailed some of his statements and actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
In particular, Hutchinson recalled that Cipollone warned that President Donald Trump could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if he was allowed to join his supporters at the Capitol and implored then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get Trump to call off the rioters or “people are going to die and the blood is going to be on your f—ing hands.”
“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,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said after issuing the subpoena.
“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 committee announced late Tuesday that its next public hearing will be held on July 12, but did not disclose a witness list or topic.
However, CNN reported that former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews was subpoenaed this week and has agreed to testify at a future hearing.
Matthews voluntarily appeared before the committee for a deposition in February. She reportedly resigned her position in the Trump White House on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, after rabid supporters of the 45th president breached the Capitol and disrupted the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
At the time, Matthews said she had been honored to serve the Trump administration but “was deeply disturbed by what I saw” that day, according to CNN.
Last week, Matthews came to the defense of Hutchinson after several Republicans — including Trump — denied or disputed her testimony before the committee.
“Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” Matthews wrote in a tweet.
“For those complaining of ‘hearsay,’ I imagine the Jan. 6 committee would welcome any of those involved to deny these allegations under oath,” she added.
Hutchinson was slammed by the former president over her claim that he attempted to grab the steering wheel of the SUV he was being driven in and lunged toward Secret Service agent Robert “Bobby” Engel when the president was told he could not join his supporters at the Capitol.
“Lyin’ Cassidy Hutchinson, who the Fake News Media refuses to properly reveal, recently called the January 6 Unselect Committee ‘B.S.’ Gee, that wasn’t reported by LameStream!” Trump posted Monday on his Truth Social page.
Trump has also denied Hutchinson’s claim that he threw a plate of food against a wall of the West Wing dining room in December 2020 after then-Attorney General Bill Barr disputed his election fraud claims.
