Top White House lawyer warned 'we're going to be charged with every crime imaginable' if Trump went to the Capitol on January 6, ex-White House aide testifies

• Cassidy Hutchinson testified that the top White House lawyer was worried about Trump potentially going to the Capitol.
• Pat Cipollone, Hutchinson testified, said Trump would be "charged with every crime imaginable" if he followed through.

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified on Tuesday that the top White House lawyer, Pat Cipollone, was gravely concerned about President Donald Trump facing criminal charges if he went to the Capitol on January 6 along with thousands of protesters.

"Mr. [Pat] Cipollone said something to the effect of, 'please make sure that we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy, keep in touch with me,'" Hutchinson told the January 6 Select Committee of a conversation she had with Cipollone on January 6. "We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen."

Hutchinson testified earlier to the committee that Cipollone, who was then the White House counsel, was concerned that Trump could be charged with obstructing justice or the Electoral College count if Trump went to the Capitol on January 6.

"He was also worried that it would look like we were inciting a riot or encouraging a riot to happen up at the Capitol," Hutchinson told the panel during one of four videotaped depositions she previously conducted with the panel.

Some Trump allies have claimed the president did not want to travel to the Capitol on January 6 as Congress undertook its duty to certify the election.

Cipollone's reported views are of paramount importance. The White House counsel is not the president's personal lawyer, but gives the president legal advice. John Dean was famously President Richard Nixon's White House counsel before turning on the president amid efforts to cover up the Watergate break-in.