The House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol has issued a subpoena to compel the testimony of Pat Cipollone, White House adviser to former President Donald Trump.
Cipollone, who many former administration officials credit with helping to prevent Trump from taking legally questionable actions in the months surrounding the 2020 presidential election, has long been considered a key witness by the committee. He resisted talking to the committee further after previously sitting down for a closed-door interview on April 13.
The committee said in its subpoena letter that it obtained evidence that Cipollone is “solely positioned to testify,” but he “refused to cooperate” after the interview, leaving the panel “no choice” but to issue the subpoena. During recent public hearings, panelists publicly pressured Cipollone to testify.
The committee is now taking a step to issue a subpoena in an effort to force their formal cooperation.
Mississippi Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, panel chair, and Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney, panel vice chair, said, “The Select Committee’s investigation uncovered evidence that Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about the activities of the panel. President Trump on January 6th and in the days leading up to it.”
“While the Select Committee appreciates Mr. Cipollone with our investigation, the committee needs to officially hear from him, as other former White House advisers have done in other Congressional investigations,” the duo continued. “Any concerns that Mr. Cipollone has on the institutional prerogatives of the position he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony.”
Witnesses who testified before the panel repeatedly mentioned Cipollone as someone who can shed light on major events inside the Trump White House before and after January 6, 2021.
Shortly after protesters stormed the US Capitol, Cipollone rushed to the office of then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, demanding a meeting with Trump, Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the Jan. .
“I remember Pat saying to him something like, ‘The protesters have arrived at the Capitol. We need to go down and see the president now,’” Hutchinson said in a videotaped interview.
“And Mark looked at him and said, ‘He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat,’” she said.
Cipollone, Hutchinson added, stressed to Meadows the need for action to bring the Meadows situation under control. She said Cipollone “said that very clearly to Mark — something along the lines of ‘Mark, something needs to be done or people are going to die and blood is going to get on your hands. This is getting out of hand. I’m going there.'”
Meadows then handed over his phones to Hutchinson and left his office with Cipollone, Hutchinson told the committee.
Cheney tweeted on Wednesday before the subpoena was announced that “as we heard yesterday, WH’s attorney [White House/Casa Branca], Pat Cipollone, had significant concerns about Trump’s activities on Jan. It’s time for Cipollone to officially testify. Any concerns he has about the institutional interests of his previous position are outweighed by his need for testimony.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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