Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone


The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack issued a subpoena on Wednesday to Pat Cipollone, who served as White House counsel during the Trump administration.
This comes after Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former President Donald Trump's final White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified publicly before the committee on Tuesday that Cipollone pleaded with her on the morning of Jan. 6 to keep Trump away from the Capitol. "We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen," Hutchinson said Cipollone told her.
The committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), wrote in a letter to Cipollone that while he sat for an informal interview on April 13, in the weeks since he has "declined to cooperate with us further, including by providing on-the-record testimony. We are left with no choice but to issue you this subpoena."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a statement, Thompson and the committee's vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said the panel has received evidence that "Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump's activities on Jan. 6th and in the days that preceded." Early Wednesday morning, Cheney tweeted that it is "time for Mr. Cipollone to testify on the record. Any concerns he has about the institutional interests of his prior office are outweighed by the need for his testimony."
One person involved with the Jan. 6 investigation told The Washington Post that Tuesday's surprise hearing with Hutchinson was designed, in part, to get resistant witnesses like Cipollone to testify. "He can probably give the best overview of how Meadows, [former Trump lawyer Rudy] Giuliani, and Trump were told what they were doing might be illegal," another person familiar with the investigation told the Post.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocrat
Feature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?
Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlock
Feature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
‘This isn’t just semantics’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Miami Freedom Tower’s MAGA library squeeze
THE EXPLAINER Plans to place Donald Trump’s presidential library next to an iconic symbol of Florida’s Cuban immigrant community has South Florida divided
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal