President Trump’s top attorney in the White House, Pat Cipollone, graduated from Covington Catholic High School — the same Kentucky high school that has come under scrutiny after an encounter between Covington students wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and a Native American elder went viral.
Cipollone graduated from Covington Catholic High School in 1984, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. He replaced White House counsel Don McGahn last year after working as an informal adviser to Trump on matters related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation. The probe is examining Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
Students from Covington Catholic High School who attended the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday can be seen in a short video clip that went viral encircling a Native American man who was chanting and beating a drum on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The initial media coverage and backlash was overwhelmingly critical of the teenagers. However some have walked back their criticism as longer video and further details emerged over the weekend that showed it was the Native American elder, Nathan Philips, who approached the students after they began to gather when a nearby group of adults flung obscenities their way.
Some critics have remained steadfast in their condemnation, pointing out that some of the boys did a “tomahawk chop” and joined in on the chant.
Notably, Trump has come out on the side of the Covington students, saying Monday evening that they have been “smeared” by the media.
The school was closed Tuesday due to security concerns, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that the students participation has caused “threats on their lives.”
“Far left activists and and members of the national and state media isolated a very few seconds of video footage, straight out of context, and many decided it was time to attack and denigrate these young people,” McConnell said on Wednesday.
