WASHINGTON — Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone arrived Friday for his closed-door testimony before the House committee investigating last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The committee wants Cipollone’s first-hand accounts about a range of activities involving former President Donald Trump and his inner circle before and during the Jan. 6 riot, including legal and other concerns he raised.
Cipollone’s interview is taking place in a government office building less than a quarter-mile from the Capitol that has served as the committee’s base of operations. He arrived through the garage, dressed in a dark suit and striped blue and red tie, flanked by two other people.
He declined to comment to reporters gathered outside the room where he is testifying. Separately, a Cipollone spokesperson declined to comment before the testimony.
Cipollone sat previously for an informal private interview by the panel, but declined to go on the record or even discuss some topics based on claims of executive or attorney-client privilege.
But the committee dropped the informality and ordered him last week to appear under subpoena. It is unclear if Cipollone will assert privileges and not answer some questions — such as those about direct conversations with Trump — or if the committee has agreed to limits on what it will ask.
Cipollone has been mentioned often in other witness testimony. For instance, he is described as advising against schemes to block certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. He also warned “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable” if Trump joined riotous supporters marching to the Capitol Jan. 6, former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson testified publicly last week.
