Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin: Federal judge orders former top Trump White House lawyers to testify

CNN
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A federal judge has ordered former top Trump White House lawyers to provide more grand jury testimony, dismissing former President Donald Trump’s claims of privilege in the criminal investigation. of the Justice Department on his bid to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter said.

Pat Cipollone, Trump’s White House adviser, and his deputy, Patrick Philbin, appeared in September before a grand jury in Washington, DC, as part of a Justice Department investigation, which is currently being supervised. supervised by newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith.

Cipollone and Philbin declined to answer several questions at the time, citing Trump’s claims of executive and attorney-client privilege.

Cipollone and Philbin did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Trump is expected to appeal. CNN has reached out to his representative.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Privilege claims have been the subject of an ongoing legal battle in secret proceedings before a Washington federal judge overseeing the grand jury.

Similarly, the judge dismissed Trump’s requests for privileges for other witnesses, including top aides to former Vice President Mike Pence. Marc Short and Greg Jacob provided the grand jury’s second round testimony after the judge asked them to answer additional questions as part of an investigation related to January 6.