WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) – A panel of Congress investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol announced on Wednesday that it had called on former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Pat Chipolon to testify. of Trump on the day of the melee.
Cipollone’s subpoena followed dramatic public testimony Tuesday from a former White House aide who told the committee that Cipollone had warned her that they could face “any crime she can imagine” if Trump went to the Capitol on January 6 after delivering a fiery rally speech to his supporters.
“The committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that Mr Chipolone has repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on January 6 and in previous days,” the commission said in a statement.
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“Any concerns that Mr Chipolone has about the institutional prerogatives of the position he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony,” the commission said.
Cipollone could not be found immediately for comment.
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, told the commission on Tuesday that Trump wanted to leave the Capitol rally and that he got behind the wheel of the armored presidential SUV when he learned that the Secret Service would not drive him until The Capitol, where thousands of his supporters revolted.
“We will be charged with every crime we can imagine,” Hutchinson said Chipolon told her if Trump would go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“We have to be sure that this will not happen, it would be a really terrible idea for us. “We have serious legal concerns if we go to the Capitol that day,” Chipolone said, according to Hutchinson.
But the investigation came Wednesday with questions about what steps she had taken to confirm Hutchinson’s account that Trump had fought with Secret Service agents.
Hutchinson testified that Tony Ornato, a senior secret service official, told her that Trump, a Republican, was fighting agents after giving a fiery speech to his supporters in front of the White House that morning, in which he repeatedly falsely accused the widespread fraud for the loss of your election. of Democrat Joe Biden. Read more
U.S. media, citing Secret Service sources, said that Trump’s security chief Robert Engel and the driver of the car were ready to challenge Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump tried to get behind the wheel.
Neither Engel nor the driver made any public statements on Wednesday. Trump on Tuesday denied taking the wheel.
An aide to the U.S. House of Representatives committee on Jan. 6 declined to answer questions about whether the commission had already interviewed Secret Service agents or other officials who knew firsthand about the incident described by Hutchinson.
“Ms. Hutchinson supports all the testimony she gave yesterday, under oath, to the selected committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol,” her attorneys Jody Hunt and William Jordan said in a statement late Wednesday.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Wednesday that the commission had not tried to confirm details of Hutchinson’s testimony in the 10 days before the hearing, which was scheduled unusually quickly. The secret services said in a statement Tuesday that they were cooperating with the committee.
Guglielmi did not immediately answer questions about the significance of the 10 days or whether the commission had previously contacted the agency to discuss Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6.
The riot was an attempt to stop Congress, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, from validating Biden’s election.
“If it’s true that the Secret Service denies accusations against President Trump of assaults and assaults on officers, then the story is really being told in the wake of gossip,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday. “The commission, with little effort, could have told the other side of the story, but they chose NO because they wanted sensational headlines.
The nine-member commission on Jan. 6 consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans.
Trump supporters have not disputed other revelations in Hutchinson’s testimony. These include Trump’s knowledge – even approval – that his supporters were walking heavily armed in Washington on Jan. 6 and that he did not bother the rebels to insist that Pence be hanged.
Hutchinson also testified that Trump was known for the angry outbursts in the White House that left food scattered on the walls and the dishes overturned.
Also Wednesday, Virginia lawyer Ginny Thomas, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, asked the commission to provide a better “justification” for her testimony.
Earlier this month, Thomas told the Daily Caller that he wanted to “clear up misconceptions” about her activism in conservative political circles and her presence at the January 6 Trump rally. read more
As a former Meadows deputy, Hutchinson, now 26, has been a constant presence among White House staff in the last few months of 2020, often flying aboard Air Force One, staff-friendly and with details of secrets. Trump services. Her office was a 10-second walk from the President’s Oval Office.
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Report by Richard Cowen; Additional reports by Rami Ayub, Eric Beach, Steve Holland, Doina Chiaku and Rose Horowitz; Edited by Scott Malone, Mary Millikon, Howard Goller and Leslie Adler
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