Several senior White House aides begged President Donald Trump to call off his mob of supporters immediately after they breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told the House Committee investigating the riot.
In a videotaped deposition which the committee revealed Thursday, Mr. Cipollone said that despite senior aides urging Mr. Trump to make a public statement to call off the mob, the president waited more than two hours before his 4:17 p.m. video posted to Twitter asking the mob to go home.
“There needs to be a public announcement fast that they need to leave the Capitol,” Mr. Cipollone said of his advice immediately after learning that the Capitol had been breached.
“Many people suggested it, not just me,” he said, adding that Ivanka Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were among those calling for the president to issue a statement.
Mr. Cipollone also addressed testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson from last month, in which she told the committee that she overhead discussions between Mr. Cipollone and Mr. Meadows at the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. She said Mr. Cipolloni had relayed that Mr. Trump said Vice President Mike Pence “deserves” to be hung, when confronted about the mob chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
“I remember hearing that, about that, yes,” Mr. Cipolloni told the committee. “My view of that was that is outrageous. For people in that crowd to be chanting that I thought was terrible. I thought it was outrageous. And I expressed that very clearly.”
Committee Vice-Chair Liz Cheney, Wyoming Republican, said that the committee has “far more information to share with the American people” and will spend August “pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts.”
The panel is expected to have additional hearings in September ahead of the November midterms.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.