WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, spent roughly seven hours Friday giving closed-door testimony before the House committee investigating last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and member of the committee, told CNN that “I think he was candid with the committee, he was careful in his answers, and I believe he was honest in his answers.”
Cipollone arrived before 10 a.m. and left at 5:15 p.m., taking periodic breaks. He departed through a garage without making any statement. His lawyers declined to comment.
The session took place in a government office building less than a quarter-mile from the Capitol.
Lofgren said “there were complications” regarding assertions of attorney-client privilege between him and Trump, but “I can’t go into it more than that.”
“Let me just say he takes his ethical obligations very seriously,” Lofgren said of Cipollone.
The committee wanted Cipollone’s firsthand account about a range of activities involving the former president and his inner circle before and during the Jan. 6 riot, including legal and other concerns he raised.
Lofgren added that the committee gained some new information, including “insights” regarding events on Jan. 6. She was not more specific, but said the testimony was transcribed and videotaped and would likely become public at some point.
Cipollone had previously taken part in 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 ordered him last week to appear under subpoena. It was unclear whether Cipollone and the committee had agreed to limits on questions.
Cipollone has been mentioned often in other witness testimony. For instance, he has been described as advising against plans 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 on Jan. 6, former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson testified publicly last week.
