FIRST ON CNN: Former Deputy White House counsel subpoenaed in January 6 probe
By Katelyn Polantz and Pamela Brown, CNN
The former deputy counsel to President Donald Trump has been subpoenaed in the federal criminal probe of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
Patrick Philbin was subpoenaed for testimony and documents, according to one of the sources. Philbin worked in the White House counsel’s office under Pat Cipollone, who also was also subpoenaed for documents and testimony, according to sources.
Philbin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Executive privilege will play a role in the discussions over Philbin’s grand jury testimony, as it has with recent grand jury testimony of Cipollone and vice presidential advisers Marc Short and Greg Jacob.
Philbin and Cipollone were both key witnesses to Trump’s actions in the last days of his presidency. Cipollone repeatedly pushed back on efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report, he and Philbin opposed a proposal to replace the attorney general with someone willing to look into false claims of election fraud.
The report said that both Philbin and Cipollone indicated that they would resign should such a plan be executed.
Philbin has already testified about the Capitol attack in a separate probe: earlier this year he appeared before the House select committee investigating January 6, CNN previously reported.
During Cipollone’s own testimony before the House committee, he told investigators that on January 6 he was joined by a number of top Trump advisers — including Philbin — in pushing the former President to issue a strong condemnation of the attack.
CNN reported last October that Philbin was at the time among a cadre of attorneys from the Trump White House or campaign still at work for the former-President and now focused on more narrow tasks, such as handling executive privilege discussions with the National Archives or communicating with potential ex-White House witnesses called to Capitol Hill.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.
