Justice Department probe may be aiming squarely at Trump
These developments, which are the clearest indication yet that Trump is in the investigation’s sights, suggest the effort to find the truth will survive even if Republicans win the House this fall and shut down the select committee. Unlike the House investigation, the Justice Department would be able to bring criminal charges against former Trump administration officials if it chooses.
It follows that the department is seeking to litigate executive privilege claims that Trump is likely to make in an effort to thwart the investigation. This also suggests that the department, after months of complaints from House select committee members and others that it was not acting quickly enough, is moving with alacrity.
Both Cipollone and Philbin were subpoenaed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. They were both close to Trump inside the White House in the fraught days after the 2020 election and in the run-up to the Capitol insurrection. The department sought their testimony after the grand jury also heard from two key members of former Vice President Mike Pence’s brain trust, his former chief of staff Marc Short and legal counsel Greg Jacob.
Cipollone has also been a key figure in the House committee’s televised hearings, which have used him to highlight the potential illegality of Trump’s actions and refusal to intervene to quash the Capitol riot. The committee’s star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that Cipollone warned staff could be charged with countless crimes if they let Trump go to the Capitol on January 6.
In his own deposition before the committee, Cipollone declined to divulge details of his personal conversations with the then-President on privilege grounds. But with its longer timeline and resources, the Justice Department may have more power to overcome this obstacle, either in negotiations with Cipollone or through the courts.
Trump may be the focus of investigators
Until it emerged that Cipollone and Philbin and the two key Pence aides were sought for grand jury testimony, it was not possible to establish whether the department was looking directly at the ex-President’s role in disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. But given the proximity of the two White House counsels, in particular, to the then-President,…
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