Former White House attorney Pat Cipollone has reached an agreement with the House committee on Jan. 6 to testify Friday in a transcribed interview, according to sources familiar with the matter.
His transcribed interview will be videotaped, sources said.
The committee had issued a subpoena to Cipollone last week after talks to get him to testify publicly were unsuccessful.
Cipollone was one of the few aides to former President Donald Trump on the day of the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and has a significant view of previous events, which led to the uprising and beyond.
The House committee has frequently referred to Cipollone during his public hearings, and members said he was one of the advisers around Trump and constantly told the former president that he was concerned that Trump’s actions might put Trump in legal danger.
Cipollone was not expected to fight the citation of the committee, as discussions between him and the investigators were cordial.
White House attorney Pat Cipollone leaves the U.S. Capitol on January 25, 2020 in Washington, DC
J. Scott Applewhite / AP, SHEET
Following last week’s order, a lawyer familiar with Cipollone’s deliberations told ABC News: “Of course, a subpoena was necessary before the former White House lawyer could even consider a transcribed testimony. before the committee. Pat Cipollone has previously provided an informal interview at the request of the committee. Now that a summons has been issued, it will be evaluated as to matters of privilege that may be appropriate. “
Sources previously told ABC News that among the topics for the testimony on which Cipollone and the committee had been negotiating were: the actions taken by former senior Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to use the DOJ’s powers to try to overturn. to launch the 2020 presidential election; what Cipollone did on Jan. 6, excluding talks he held directly with former President Trump; interactions for which he was present or had with former Trump lawyer John Eastman; and the interactions he was present or had with members of Congress after the 2020 elections.
Cipollone has been one of the panel’s most wanted witnesses after last week’s testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former chief aide to Mark Meadows, Trump’s fourth and final chief of staff in the White House.
Hutchinson told the panel that Cipollone was afraid of the consequences of Trump’s push to march last year with his supporters from the Ellipse to the Capitol, where Congress was working to certify the results of the Electoral College. of 2020.
“Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, ‘Please make sure we don’t go up to the Capitol, Cassidy, keep in touch with me. We will be charged with every crime imaginable if we make this move happen. Hutchinson said.
During the riots, Hutchinson also said Cipollone was pushing for Trump to make some kind of statement to help end the violence.
“Mark, something needs to be done or people will die and the blood will be in your hands,” Cipollone told Meadows, according to Hutchinson’s testimony.
To the committee’s desire to hear Cipollone was added his attendance at a January 3, 2021 meeting at the White House during which he and others urged Trump not to review the Justice Department’s leadership in an effort to trigger an investigation into unfounded election fraud. claims.
Cipollone faced increased pressure from Wyo. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the court’s vice president, to testify after Hutchinson’s testimony.
A picture of former President Donald Trump is shown during the third hearing of the select committee of the United States House to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on June 16, 2022.
Drew Angerer / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
“As we heard yesterday, WH attorney Pat Cipollone had major concerns regarding Trump’s activities on Jan. 6. It’s time for Mr. Cipollone to testify in the minutes. Any concerns he has about the institutional interests of his previous charge is offset by the need for his testimony, ”Cheney tweeted last week.
Cipollone was quoted later that day.
“The select committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on Jan. 6 and the days before,” said President Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., And Cheney in a statement. with the citation.
“While the select committee appreciates Mr. Cipollone’s previous informal commitment to our investigation, the committee must hear him in the minutes, as other former White House councilors have done in other congressional investigations,” they said. to say.
Cipollone had previously met with panel investigators in April, but not for a formal recorded statement.