Trump's White House counsel called to testify before riot panel

WASHINGTON • A congressional panel investigating the Jan 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol has announced that it has subpoenaed Mr Donald Trump's White House counsel, Mr Pat Cipollone, to testify about the then President's activities on the day of the melee.

Wednesday's subpoena seeking a deposition from Mr Cipollone followed dramatic public testimony the day before from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. She told the panel that Mr Cipollone had warned her they could face "every crime imaginable" if Mr Trump went to the Capitol on Jan 6 after delivering a fiery rally speech to his supporters.

"The Select Committee's investigation has revealed evidence that Mr Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump's activities on Jan 6 and in the days that preceded," the panel said in a statement.

"Any concerns Mr Cipollone has about the institutional prerogatives of the office he previously held are clearly outweighed by the need for his testimony," the committee said. Mr Cipollone could not be reached for comment.

Ms Hutchinson, an aide to Mr Trump's White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the committee on Tuesday that Mr Trump wanted to leave the rally for the Capitol and that he grabbed the steering wheel of the armoured presidential SUV when he learned that the Secret Service would not drive him to the Capitol, where thousands of his supporters were rioting.

"We need to make sure that this doesn't happen, this would be a really terrible idea for us. We have serious legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day," Mr Cipollone said, Ms Hutchinson testified.

But the probe faced questions on Wednesday about what steps it had taken to corroborate Ms Hutchinson's account.

Ms Hutchinson also testified that senior Secret Service official Tony Ornato told her Mr Trump, a Republican, had struggled with agents after giving a fiery speech to his supporters outside the White House that morning in which he repeatedly blamed widespread fraud for his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

US media outlets, citing Secret Service sources, said the head of Mr Trump's security detail, Mr Robert Engel, and the driver of the car were prepared to challenge Ms Hutchinson's testimony that Mr Trump had tried to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle.

Mr Ornato has told people that Ms Hutchinson's account to the House committee was not consistent with his understanding of the incident, according to a person familiar with Mr Ornato's denial. Ms Hutchinson's lawyers said in a statement that she "stands by all of the testimony" to the committee.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG