Liz Cheney ratchets up pressure on Pat Cipollone to testify after explosive Cassidy Hutchison hearing
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is ratcheting up pressure on former White House counsel Pat Cipollone after former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson leveled a number of explosive claims during her testimony at a House Select Committee hearing.
Writing on Twitter, Cheney implored Cipollone to stop hiding behind executive privilege claims and formally testify about what he knows about former President Donald Trump's actions before, during, and after the January 6th Capitol riots.
"As we heard yesterday, WH counsel Pat Cipollone had significant concerns re. Trump’s Jan 6 activities," Cheney wrote. "It’s 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."
During her testimony, Hutchinson said that Cipollone desperately tried to get her to stop then-President Donald Trump from marching to the United States Capitol with his followers, on the grounds that "we’re going to get charges of every crime imaginable if we make that move."
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Hutchinson said specifically that Cipollone feared getting charged with the crimes of obstruction of justice and interference with an official congressional act.
So far, Cipollone has met informally with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots, but has so far refused to sit down to testify under oath.
Last week, former Trump Department of Justice officials testified under oath that Cipollone had helped them resist Trump's efforts to get the DOJ involved in disputing the results of the 2020 election, and they said he called former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark's proposed letter to state election officials a "murder-suicide pact."