WASHINGTON — Pat A. Cipollone, who served as White House counsel for President Donald J. Trump, was asked Friday about pardons, false allegations of voter fraud and the former president’s pressure campaign against the vice president. President Mike Pence, according to three people familiar with his testimony before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The panel was in no rush to corroborate or contradict specific details of the explosive testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who captivated the country late last month with her account of an out-of-control president ready. to embrace violence and stop at nothing to stay in power, people said.
During a roughly eight-hour interview conducted behind closed doors at the O’Neill House office building, the panel covered some of the same ground as during an informal interview with Mr Cipollone in April. During Friday’s session, which only took place after Mr. Cipollone received a subpoena, investigators focused primarily on Mr. Cipollone’s views on the events of January 6 and did not generally not asked for his opinion on the accounts of other witnesses.
Mr. Cipollone, who fought against the most extreme plans to nullify the 2020 election but has long maintained that his direct conversations with Mr. Trump were protected by professional secrecy and solicitor-client privilege, said claimed certain privileges by refusing to answer some of the committee’s questions. questions.
Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the panel, said the committee “received critical testimony on nearly every major subject of its investigation, reinforcing key points about Donald Trump’s misconduct and providing highly relevant new information that will play a central role in its forthcoming hearings”.
“This includes information demonstrating Donald Trump’s supreme dereliction of duty,” Mr Mulvey said. “The testimony also corroborated key elements of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony.”
The panel has videotaped Mr. Cipollone with potential plans to use excerpts from his testimony in future hearings. Aides began to strategize on whether and where to adjust scripts to include key clips, one person said. The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
In the interview, Mr. Cipollone was asked about Mr. Trump’s false claims about a stolen election. The panel posed similar questions to senior Justice Department officials, White House lawyers and Trump campaign officials, who testified that they disagreed with efforts to overturn the charges. 2020 elections.
Mr. Cipollone also broke with Mr. Trump in response to questions about the former president’s lobbying campaign against Mr. Pence, which included personal meetings, a profane phone call and even a Twitter post attacking the vice-president. president as rioters stormed the Capitol vowing to hang him, people familiar with the testimony said.
Mr. Cipollone’s agreement to sit for an interview before the panel had sparked speculation that his testimony might support or contradict the account of Ms. Hutchinson, who attributed some of the most damning statements about Mr. Trump to Mr. Cipollone. For example, she testified that Mr. Cipollone told her on the morning of Jan. 6 that Mr. Trump’s plan to accompany the crowd to the Capitol would result in Trump officials being “charged with every crime imaginable.”
Two people familiar with Mr Cipollone’s actions that day said he did not recall making the comment to Ms Hutchinson. These people said that the committee had been informed before the interview that Mr. Cipollone would not confirm this conversation if asked. He was not asked about that specific statement on Friday, according to people familiar with the questions.
“Why are Pat Cipollone and his lawyers letting the J6 committee get away with suborning the perjury of Cassidy Hutchinson? Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who also testified before the panel, wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Only cowards let the left bully them into sitting quietly instead of talking and telling the truth. Stop hiding in the background, Pat. Cultivate a spine and save yourself.
Mr Mulvey said there was no ‘pre-interview agreement to limit Cipollone’s testimony’ and that any other suggestions were ‘completely false’.
Among other topics, Mr. Cipollone was asked in the interview about conversations in which presidential pardons were discussed.
Ms. Hutchinson testified that on January 7, the day after the assault on the Capitol, Mr. Trump wanted to promise pardons to those involved in the attack, but Mr. Cipollone pleaded to remove language making such a promise from the remarks. that the president had to deliver.
She also testified that members of Congress and others close to Mr. Trump asked for forgiveness after the Jan. 6 violence.
An adviser to Mr. Cipollone declined to comment on his appearance before the panel.
“He’s been candid with the committee,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and panel member, told CNN on Friday. “He was careful in his answers, and I believe he was honest in his answers.”
She added, “We gained additional insight into the actual day of January 6.”
Ms. Lofgren said Mr. Cipollone did not contradict the other witnesses. “There were things that he might not have been present for or in some cases couldn’t remember accurately,” she said.
Mr Cipollone’s testimony came after he reached an agreement to testify before the panel, which had pressed him for weeks to cooperate and issued him a subpoena last month.
Mr. Cipollone witnessed key moments in Mr. Trump’s push to overturn the election results, including discussions of sending fake letters to state officials about voter fraud and seizure voting machines. He was also in direct contact with Mr. Trump on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the Capitol.
Mr. Trump spoke out against Mr. Cipollone’s cooperation. On Thursday, he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social: “Why would a future President of the United States want to have candid and important conversations with his lawyer in the White House if he thought there was even a slim chance that this person, essentially acting as the country’s “advocate”, may one day be brought before a partisan and openly hostile congressional committee.