Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel in the Trump administration recently targeted by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, was reportedly generally cooperative during a lengthy Friday interview with the panel.
Cipollone had previously participated in an informal interview with the committee. This week’s presumably significantly longer sit-down was videotaped and recorded and came after the committee subpoenaed Cipollone — and after committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) publicly pushed for his testimony during one of the panel’s public hearings. Cipollone reportedly showed up for the new interview with the committee around 8:45 a.m. and later left shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon. “He’s been a cooperative witness within the parameters of his desire to protect executive privilege for the office of general counsel,” a source familiar with the first part of Cipollone’s testimony said Friday.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, also spoke to Cipollone’s cooperation. Per Lofgren, Cipollone answered “a whole variety of questions” and “did not contradict the testimony of other witnesses.” “I think we did learn a few things, which we will be rolling out in hearings to come,” the Congresswoman added on CNN. Asked about whether Cipollone confirmed elements of prominent recent testimony from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Lofgren remarked that confirming isn’t the same as not contradicting. “There were things that he might not be present for, or in some cases couldn’t recall with precision…. I think he was candid with the committee,” Lofgren added. “He was careful in his answers, and I believe that he was honest in his answers.”
Previously, clips of private testimony to the House riot committee have repeatedly and consistently been features of the panel’s public hearings, so it seems safe to suspect that footage from Cipollone’s appearance before the committee this week may soon come out. There’s also apparently an official expectation at the Justice Department that the committee will eventually release transcripts of all its interviews later this year.
“Our committee is certain that Donald Trump does not want Mr. Cipollone to testify here,” Cheney remarked during a June 21 hearing. “Indeed, our evidence shows that Mr. Cipollone and his office tried to do what was right. They tried to stop a number of President Trump’s plans for January 6th… We think the American people deserve to hear from Mr. Cipollone, personally. He should appear before this committee and we are working to secure his testimony.” Trump indicated he was in to-be-expected opposition after the agreement for Cipollone to appear before the committee this past Friday was announced, tying his complaints to executive privilege concerns. However, the unique seriousness of the riot investigation means there’s more to be concerned with here than privilege.
“Any concerns Mr. Cipollone has about the institutional prerogatives of the office he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony,” committee leaders including Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Cheney said in a recent joint statement. As for Cipollone’s push-back to some of the corruption, he was apparently in stark opposition to a push for Trump to go to the Capitol on January 6. Cipollone also apparently pushed for urgent action to address the riot at the Capitol as it unfolded.
