A closed-door testimony before the Jan. 6 committee corroborated almost everything the panel has heard from public witnesses, a top member said on Tuesday.
After the blockbuster testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the committee asked former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to speak with members privately. Cipollone’s marathon interview — he spent nearly eight hours with the committee last week — was taped, and pieces of his testimony are expected to be aired during Tuesday’s hearing.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE MEMBER SAYS WITNESSES ARE NEVER CALLED TO ‘CORROBORATE OTHER WITNESSES’
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) a top member of the committee who will be leading parts of Tuesday’s hearing, told NBC that Cipollone’s testimony lined up with what Hutchinson and other witnesses have said over the last month of public hearings.
“Cipollone has corroborated almost everything that we’ve learned from the prior hearings,” Raskin said. “I certainly did not hear him contradict Cassidy Hutchinson. … He had the opportunity to say whatever he wanted to say, so I didn’t see any contradiction there.”
Panel members didn’t bring Cipollone in to testify in order to corroborate Hutchinson’s or any other witness’s testimony, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said on Sunday. While the committee didn’t ask Cipollone to “corroborate” anything, his information was in line with what the panel had heard from others.
“We never call in witnesses to corroborate other witnesses or to give their reaction to other witnesses,” Lofgren said during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I will say that he did interview with us for eight hours and provide very insightful information, and that augments and certainly does not dispute Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony.”
The committee’s interest in Cipollone was piqued after Hutchinson said the former White House counsel told her on Jan. 6 that then-President Donald Trump couldn’t go to the Capitol because they would be “charged with every crime imaginable.”
However, the panel never asked Cipollone about that statement, sources familiar with the testimony told CNN last week. Cipollone would not have confirmed “that particular statement,” according to the report.
Key pieces of Hutchinson’s testimony have been scrutinized, including a recounting of Trump grabbing the steering wheel of an SUV and lunging at a Secret Service agent in the car.
Other Jan. 6 witnesses have also poked holes in Hutchinson’s testimony that she wrote a memo for Trump to read to the country while rioters were overtaking the Capitol.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Jan. 6 committee’s Tuesday hearing will focus on the intersection of extremist groups, primarily the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, that participated in the events on Jan. 6 and the White House.
On Monday, an attorney for Stewart Rhodes, a co-founder of the Oath Keepers, said Rhodes had asked to be put in touch with Trump before the riot. Rhodes offered to testify before the committee on Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether the committee is willing to meet the demands Rhodes made.
