Whereas McGahn focused intently on judicial nominations and deregulation during his time leading the counsel’s office, Cipollone did not enter the job with set policy preferences.
Instead, he followed the president’s lead. Cipollone helped develop the rationale for an emergency declaration that allowed the president to shift money around to fund the border wall. He worked with the president to prepare tariffs on Mexico until the U.S. and Mexico cut a deal to avoid them, and he led the counsel’s office through multiple investigations and eventually the all-consuming Senate impeachment trial.
Cipollone’s allies say he runs the counsel’s office — the “most important law firm in the world” — as an affable leader who is a good listener, said Alan Dershowitz, a friend of the president’s and member of his legal team. “He takes everyone seriously. It was a pleasure to watch.”
Republicans close to the White House say the counsel’s office functions like a tight-knit team.
Inside the broader White House, however, Cipollone has clashed with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney over the sharing of information and the best person to lead the White House impeachment strategy. Several staffers from other key offices came to view Cipollone as territorial and overly secretive with information — and ill-equipped to handle the political dimensions of an impeachment trial.
His allies argue that keeping tight control over information is typical behavior for any good lawyer, especially one who wants to keep the strategy secret in a White House known for leaks. “Everyone had the info they needed to do their job,” said a person familiar with the legal team.
During the impeachment proceedings, the president’s relationship with Cipollone had ups and downs. Trump was angry with Cipollone at one point during the House proceedings in December when several administration officials testified as witnesses, said a Republican close to the White House.
Yet during the Senate trial, Trump was pleased with Cipollone’s made-for-TV performance including his emotional and tough exchange at one point with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler on the Senate floor. During his post-impeachment speech in the East Room, Cipollone was one of the first people Trump singled out for praise.
On the legal team, Cipollone functioned like the “anti-Giuliani,” said one Republican close to the White House, who said Cipollone remained calm, rational and under the radar even while facing intense scrutiny.
“It is highly ironic that the guy who is OK with no one recognizing him or knowing who he is, is front and center on every channel in the world,” said Jonathan Missner, Cipollone’s former partner at the law firm of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner.
Post-impeachment, several friends and allies of Cipollone’s say he is likely to remain at the White House through the end of the first term. No one knows exactly what he will do after November, be it return to private practice or continue to work for the president if he wins reelection.
Friends say Cipollone often lets his faith guide major career decisions. Allies say he does not think much about his career legacy, and it’s hard to know whether the impeachment and acquittal will end up being the capstone of his time in the White House.
“If you go back to the Clinton impeachment, no one remembers who the White House lawyers are,” one Republican attorney said.
Instead, Cipollone’s legacy may be staying in the president’s good graces for an extended period of time. Maintaining a good and consistent relationship with the president inside the White House has bedeviled other top staffers — including former chief of staff John Kelly, former national security adviser John Bolton and Cipollone’s predecessor, McGahn, who liked to call Trump “King Kong” behind his back.
“Pat has skills that many people do not have,” said Missner, his former law partner. “Whenever everyone else says, ‘You can’t do it this way,’ Pat doesn’t think in those terms. He finds them to be silly. Just follow the path of how he helped to lead the strategy of what you just watched on impeachment. Every pundit said, ‘You can’t do this.’ But it worked.”
Source: politico.com
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