Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone's grand jury subpoena is a huge deal
Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone's grand jury subpoena is a huge deal in finding out what happened during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The news Wednesday that a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has subpoenaed former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone is a game-changer in efforts to prove that former President Donald Trump likely acted criminally in response to the insurrection.
While Cipollone previously asserted attorney-client privilege and executive privilege during testimony to the Jan. 6 House committee, a grand jury is a different matter entirely. In the District of Columbia, the courts have found that both of these privileges must give way to the grand jury’s need to gather evidence in a criminal proceeding.
In the District of Columbia, the courts have found that both of these privileges must give way to the grand jury’s need to gather evidence in a criminal proceeding.
Cipollone now can be compelled to testify in full before the grand jury, including his crucial conversations with Trump about any of the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and involvement in inspiring and monitoring the riot itself.
Whatever one thinks of Cipollone’s defense of Trump in his role as White House counsel during the first impeachment, once violence broke out on Jan. 6, his responsibility was not to his boss but the country as a whole.
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