The House Select Committee investigating the Trumpist attempted coup on January 6 subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who now says he will testify under oath behind closed doors. His sworn testimony will be transcribed and videotaped. He had previously declined to testify voluntarily.
After last week's testimony of former chief of staff Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Cipollone was depicted as being at the heart of discussions leading up to and on January 6 that would reveal the Malignant Loser's intentions and actions that day. Specifically, Hutchinson testified that Cipollone was aware that Trump knew the rioters were armed and that he wanted to join them at the Capitol to lead the insurrection, among other revelations.
It's unclear whether Cipollone will respond to the Committee's questions by claiming executive privilege to "run out the clock" as New York University law professor Stephen Gillers notes:
"Attorney-client or executive privilege claims would likely fail to pass muster, though that wouldn’t stop Cipollone from using the tactic in response to the US House committee’s June 29 subpoena, said Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor.
'He could show up and assert attorney-client privilege or executive privilege and there’s nothing the committee can do,' Gillers said, beyond asking the Justice Department to enforce the subpoena. 'We’ve seen this show before, where the Trump administration uses the delay in the courts to frustrate the ability to get information.'”
Professor Gillers may be right, and Cipollone could be one of the many cowards who are seeking to protect the Malignant Loser, and preserve their status in the Republican political world. If he doesn't go that route, he could provide devastating, first hand testimony as to the Malignant Loser's criminal intent to overturn the election and the Constitutional order. We'll see.
