CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Two Trump WH Lawyers Just Testified For 5 HOURS To Criminal Grand Jury For Jan. 6 Attack
Former Trump White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin were caught on camera leaving federal court after testifying to the Jan. 6 criminal grand jury for five hours.
Former White House Counsel Cipollone and ex-Deputy White House Counsel Philbin were spotted Friday afternoon leaving the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse after reportedly testifying for hours to the grand jury.
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It’s yet another indication that things have not slowed down since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith as Special Counsel to handle Justice Department probes into Trump’s mishandling of classified information under the Espionage Act and his conduct surrounding the January 6 insurrection.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN Tonight, CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams called this a “profound moment” that may be missed by a “desensitized” public:
COATES: Let me start with you here, Elliot, because it’s a pretty significant moment that the former White House lawyers are testifying in a criminal grand jury. Speak to the significance of this moment in a time when we used to think about things like impeachment as never really wanting to ever happen. The idea of no one being above the law.
The White House internal memos at DOJ about, excuse me, about whether to indict a sitting president was also of an esoteric debate. We’re in a whole different world now.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And I think part of the problem is there’s a little bit of investigation fatigue. I know Scott will agree with me on this. We’ve talked about it, but this idea of because of the multiple impeachments —
COATES: Yes.
JENNINGS: Yes.
WILLIAMS: — and constant lawsuits against the former president that people sort of have, many people have just sort of become desensitized to it. This in isolation is profound. Number one, you have senior White House staff testifying before a grand jury and you have lawyers testifying before a grand jury after being directed to testify because the objections that they were raising to testimony just didn’t really stand —
(CROSSTALK)
COATES: Wait, stop there for that and like, let’s unpack that. Because the idea that lawyers in general are testifying in front of the grand jury about notably contact, they’ve likely had with somebody that they are providing legal advice to, in some counsel is already odd. But then you’ve got the added, the added notion here that they were directed to do so.
WILLIAMS: They were, and so a couple things, and there’s a third layer, which that they’re also White House staff, right? So, there’s executive privilege questions, attorney client privilege questions, and also a court has ordered them to testify on account of the fact that it’s just important testimony to get.
So, it legally, politically, historically it’s just a profound moment, and you know, I’m with you on this, Scott. All of the investigations over the years leading up to this have sort of desensitized people, just how profound it all is right now.
Watch above via CNN Tonight.
