WASHINGTON — Pat Cipollone, who served as White House counsel to former President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday.
The Justice Department is investigating then-President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as part of its criminal investigation into tampering with the 2020 election results, an administration official with knowledge of the investigation said last week, confirming a Washington Post report.
The probe, which is related to the department’s broader investigation into efforts to sway the election results, is not a criminal investigation of Trump himself, the official added.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Cipollone’s subpoena.
Cipollone, who was a top Trump White House official, cooperated with the House Select Committee’s separate investigation on Jan. 6 last month. Cipollone, whom committee Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has described as a critical witness, testified behind closed doors for more than seven hours.
The panel called Cipollone after hearing bombshell testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, who detailed the lawyer’s efforts to rein in Trump on Jan. 6 and in the days leading up to it. .
A top member of the Jan. 6 panel told NBC New that Cipollone had corroborated nearly all of the revelations from previous witnesses, including Hutchinson. However, it is unclear whether Cipollone was asked directly by investigators about the details of some of the more explosive aspects of Hutchinson’s testimony.
Several video clips from the interview were played during the committee’s public hearings last month.
During the committee’s eighth public hearing, Cipollone said in his taped testimony that White House staff wanted the rioters to go home that day and suggested that Trump did not.
Attorney General Merrick Garland told NBC News’ Lester Holt that the DOJ’s investigation is “the broadest in its history” and plans to prosecute anyone who was “criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another. “
ABC News was the first to report on Cipollone’s DOJ subpoena.
Petros Nikolaos and Ken Dilanian contributed.
