Trump White House counsel Cipollone to testify to January 6 panel

Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, is scheduled to testify Friday before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Cipollone, whose reported resistance to Trump’s schemes to overturn his 2020 election defeat has made him a long-sought and potentially revelatory witness, was subpoenaed by the select committee last week after weeks of public pressure to provide testimony to the panel.

The person briefed on the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Cipollone agreed to appear before the committee for a private, transcribed interview.

Cipollone is said to have stridently and repeatedly warned the former president and his allies against their efforts to challenge the election, threatening to resign as Trump eyed a dramatic reshuffling atop the Justice Department.

One witness said Cipollone referred to a proposed letter making false claims about voter fraud as a “murder-suicide pact.” Another witness said Cipollone had warned her that Trump was at risk of committing “every crime imaginable.”