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Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the House January 6 Commission that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and that former President Donald Trump should have conceded.
During private testimony Friday that was aired during Tuesday’s hearing, Cipollone was asked whether he agreed that there was “no evidence of election fraud sufficient to undermine the outcome of the election.”
“Yes, I agree with that,” Cipollone answered.
Pat Cipollone waits for cabinet meeting in the White House May 19, 2020
((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE: HEARING TO HIGHLIGHT TRUMP’S ALLEGED ROLE IN BRINGING MOB TO CAPITOL
Asked by the committee whether he held the belief that Trump should concede “at a certain point after the election,” he responded, “Yes, I did.”
White House counsel Pat Cipollone listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, March 29, 2020, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Cipollone said his thinking at the time was “in line” with remarks made by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor on Dec. 14, in which McConnell recognized now-President Joe Biden as the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Cipollone was White House counsel under the Trump administration. His interview comes after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the committee that Cipollone was concerned that if Trump’s January 6 rally led to a march on the Capitol, it would create legal exposure for possible criminal charges such as obstruction or inciting a riot.
In this Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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Hutchinson testified that Cipollone restated his concerns the morning of Jan. 6 that if Trump did go to the Capitol to try to intervene in the certification of the election, “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.”
Cipollone had previously sat for an informal interview with the committee on April 13, but then refused to give testimony on the record until they issued a subpoena.
Fox News’ Bill Mears, Ron Blitzer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
