The House Jan. 6 Committee subpoenaed Pat Cipollone, who served as then-President Donald Trump’s chief White House counsel, on Wednesday evening.
The subpoena demanded that the attorney show up for a deposition on July 6.
Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) noted in the subpoena that Cipollone already had an informal interview with the panel on April 13, but more evidence has surfaced since then and the panel wants to speak to the lawyer again.
“In the weeks since, the Select Committee has continued to obtain evidence about which you are uniquely positioned to testify; unfortunately, however, you have declined to cooperate with us further, including by providing on-the-record testimony,” Thompson wrote. “We are left with no choice but to issue you this subpoena.”
Thompson and committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) emphasized in their statement on the subpoena that the panel needs to hear from Cipollone “on the record.”
“Any concerns Mr. Cipollone has about the institutional prerogatives of the office he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony,” they said.
Though neither the subpoena nor Thompson and Cheney’s statement mentioned it directly, the move came just a day after ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadow’s top aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, delivered a bombshell public testimony that included revealing details about Cipollone’s reactions to the Capitol attack and Trump’s actions leading up to it.
For one thing, Hutchinson testified that Cipollone repeatedly asked her to make sure Trump didn’t go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 because “[w]e’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.”
Hutchinson also revealed that Cipollone urged Meadows to take him to see Trump to do something about the insurrectionists as the attack was underway, to which Meadows allegedly replied, “He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat.”
Additionally, Hutchinson testified that Cipollone pushed Meadows — and by extension, Trump — to address the insurrectionists who were chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” Meadows allegedly replied something to the effect of, “You heard them, Pat, he thinks Pence deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” according to Hutchinson’s testimony.
Trump exploded at the news of the Cipollone subpoena on his fake Twitter app, Truth Social, on Wednesday night.
“The Unselect Committee is asking to interview the former White House counsel for dirt, even though that would set a terrible precedent for future Presidents,” the ex-president ranted. “NO!”
Read the subpoena below:
Does Pat have the onions to defy this subpoena ?
Patty Onions will have to follow Cassy Brass Nads and I’m not sure he has the bulbs.
Attorney-client privilege is close to iron-clad, with few exceptions like an intentional waiver and the crime-fraud exception. Executive privilege is nebulous, at best, and easier to break through. Cipollone was not Trump’s lawyer; he was the lawyer for the Office of the President, and any communications with Trump not connected to Trump’s official acts would not be protected by either privilege. And if there’s a crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, surely a court (well, maybe not this Supreme Court) would find a similar exception to executive privilege. If Cipollone resists the subpoena, all he’s interested in is delay. If this is litigated, he’ll likely eventually lose, but by then the Select Committee may well have been replaced by a new Benghazi committee.
I’d say the January 6 Select Committee is doing one damned fine job!!!
Patsy Baloney (not my diss: that’s C-SPAN’s own auto-translate chyron) is not going to get to tippy-toe away from testifying under oath. Not after Cassidy H’s extended testimony regarding PB/PC’s own witnessing of 1/6.