WASHINGTON – A House of Representatives commission investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena Wednesday for the testimony of Pat A. Chipolon, a White House adviser to President Donald J. Trump, who has repeatedly fought against extreme plans to cancel the 2020 election after resisting giving public testimony.
In a statement accompanying the summons, committee leaders said they wanted Mr. Chipolone’s testimony because investigators needed to “hear from him in the minutes, as other former White House advisers did in other congressional investigations.”
The commission said it was looking for information on Mr Trump’s efforts to cancel the 2020 election and his involvement in plans to present fake voter lists to Congress and to intervene in the Department of Justice.
The summons of a White House councilor, a rare step for a congressional committee, sent a clear signal of the aggressive tactics the group is willing to use to try to co-operate even with the former White House attorney general, who most likely could to invoke a lawyer -privilege of the client in answer to many questions. But the testimony of Mr Chipolone – who took part in key talks on 6 January and in Mr Trump’s efforts to cancel the election and is known to doubt the legitimacy of many of these plans – may prove to be consistent.
Sometimes the commission used the lever that creates the subpoena to force witnesses to negotiate a deal for their cooperation.
“Any concerns Mr. Chipolon has about the institutional prerogatives of his previous position are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony,” said Miss Bench Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, and Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming.
A lawyer familiar with Mr Chipolone’s debate, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the summons was necessary before the former White House councilor could examine the transcribed testimony before the committee and that Mr Chipolone would now evaluate the issues of privilege as appropriate.
In April, Mr. Chipolone and Patrick F. Philbin, his deputy, met separately with the panel, said two people familiar with the sessions, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the meetings.
The two men were not sworn in at the time and their interviews were not transcribed. Mr Chipolone has since resisted testifying publicly, despite calls from the commission to do so.
“Our committee is sure that Donald Trump does not want Mr. Chipolon to testify here. But we think the American people deserve to hear Mr Chipolone in person, “Ms Cheney said from the podium at a hearing last week. “He must appear before this commission and we are working to secure his testimony.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the committee heard testimony from a former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, who described Mr Chipolon’s key role during the January 6 events.
“Mark, we need to do more,” Ms. Hutchinson said, having heard Mr. Chipolon tell Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, on Jan. 6, when Mr. Trump’s supporters entered the Capitol. . “They are literally calling for the vice president to be hanged.
Key revelations from the January 6 hearings
“You heard him, Pat,” she said, Mr. Meadows replied. “He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. “
Ms. Hutchinson also testified that Mr. Chipolone objected to proposals from staff members to allow Mr. Trump to join the crowd of his supporters marching toward the Capitol. “We will be charged with every crime we can imagine,” Ms. Hutchinson told Mr. Chipolon.
Mr. Chipolone was also present at important moments in the accumulation of the storming of the Capitol, including key conversations and meetings in which Mr. Trump discussed the use of the powers of his office to try to cancel the election.
Mr Chipolone, who defended Mr Trump during his first impeachment trial, rejected some of the most extreme plans the president had considered. He attended meetings with Trump’s allies, who demanded that the military take away voting machines, and to which Attorney General William P. Barr offered his resignation after making it clear that the Justice Department had not detected widespread fraud in the 2020 election. .
Mr Chipolone, who was linked to Mr Barr and a White House lawyer named Eric Hershman, also tried to persuade Mr Trump to stop prosecuting baseless allegations of fraud. He objected to acting on a plan proposed by Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department lawyer who wanted to distribute official letters to state legislatures, falsely warning them that the election could have been stolen, and urging them to reconsider the certified results. .
“This letter that this man wants to send is a murder-suicide pact,” Mr Chipolone told Mr Trump, according to the testimony the group had received. “It will hurt anyone who touches it. And we should have nothing to do with this letter. I never want to see this letter again.
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