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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Justice Department officials declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.<\/p>\n
A representative for Cipollone could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Pat Cipollone attends a briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, March 29, 2020.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Patrick Semansky\/AP, FILE<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n