A federal grand jury has subpoenaed former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone in its investigation into the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, they said in ABC News sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Sources told ABC News that Cipollone’s lawyers, as they did with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, are expected to begin negotiations around any appearance , while weighing on concerns about potential claims of executive privilege.
The move to subpoena Cipollone signals an even more dramatic escalation in the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack than previously known, following appearances by senior members of former Vice President Mike Pence’s staff before the grand jury two weeks ago.
Justice Department officials declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.
A representative for Cipollone could not be reached for comment.
Last month, Cipollone spoke to the House select committee on Jan. 6 for a lengthy closed-door interview, portions of which have been shown during two of the committee’s most recent public hearings.
Cipollone spoke to the committee about several topics, including how he wanted then-President Donald Trump to do more to quell the unrest on the day of the attack, and how Cabinet secretaries considered calling a meeting to discuss decision-making of Trump in the wake of the insurrection.
Pat Cipollone attends a briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, March 29, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP, FILE
In videotaped testimony before the committee on Jan. 6, Cipollone made it clear that he wanted Trump to intervene sooner while the attack was underway.
“It was pretty clear to me that there had to be an immediate and forceful response, statement, public statement, that people had to get out of the Capitol now,” Cipollone said.
Committee members also questioned Cipollone about discussions among members of Trump’s cabinet about invoking the 25th Amendment to potentially remove Trump from office before President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
