Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Donald Trump’s former White House counsel Pat Cipollone provided valuable information to the Jan. 6 panel about Trump’s “dereliction of duty” on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cipollone also provided “important insight” on reports that Trump discussed declaring martial law to seize voting machines after he lost the 2020 election, Lofgren told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Cipollone was questioned by members of the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the insurrection for nearly eight hours on Friday. Lofgren said on CNN on Saturday that Cipollone didn’t “contradict” testimony by other witnesses before the panel.
Lofgren, who’s a member of the panel, said Cipollone answered a “whole variety of questions,” and revealed new information, which the committee will soon share. The panel’s next televised hearing is on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly spent hours watching the violence at the Capitol unfold on TV at the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. He finally issued a videotaped statement late in the day asking his supporters who had stormed the Capitol to go home. “We love you, you’re very special,” he added.
Lofgren said excerpts of Cipollone’s testimony will be provided at a hearing later this week. She also said the panel will be “connecting the dots” between violent extermists like the Oath Keepers and “those who were trying in government circles to overturn the election.”
The story of Jan. 6 is “unfolding in a way that is very serious,” she added.
Check out the full interview in the video clip above.