thebigp

01/13/2020
White House counsel Pat Cipollone has taken the lead on President Trump's defense team.
His strategy for approaching the looming impeachment trial may very well determine if any red-state Democrats v**e to acquit Trump or if any squishy Republicans jump ship.
Throughout the fall, Cipollone repeatedly met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP senators with legal backgrounds.
Here's everything you need to know about this impressive, yet largely unknown figure.
Unwavering Trump Supporter Early on in the impeachment inquiry brouhaha, Cipollone unequivocally declared that the White House should not comply with House Democrats.
On October 8th of last year, Cipollone sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi, declaring just that. From that moment on, everyone on both sides of the aisle knew that the administration would not comply with House Democrats' requests or let White House officials testify.
Cipollone plainly stated that impeachment "violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process." The full letter is available here.Cipollone's calm nature and straightforward effectiveness quickly endeared him to the president. After serving for several months as an informal advisor on the special counsel's probe, Cipollone received an official position, replacing Don McGahn.
Kellyanne Conaway told Politico, "He has the president’s ear, he’s earned the president’s respect and that allows people in this building not just to survive but to succeed in doing their jobs."
3.) Private Sector Past Before working at the White House, Cipollone was a partner at Stein Mitchell Cipollone Beato & Missner in Washington, D.C. The firm has received critical acclaim and widespread publicity for successfully defending besieged Washington figures.
Cipollone's areas of expertise as a commercial lawyer included anti-trust & trade regulation and healthcare fraud.

Heavy.com has more:
According to the firm bio, Cipollone had experience handling cases involving government contract matters, tax disputes, consumer fraud, crisis management, congressional investigations and insurance litigation, just to name a few. Before joining this firm, Cipollone worked at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Other past attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis include Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
One previous high-profile case Cipollone worked on included a class-action lawsuit against Equifax. He was on the 11-person legal team that defended customers who had their personal data, including social security numbers, exposed in a major data breach. The cyberattack reportedly impacted as many as 145 million customers.Tom Yannucci, a former chairman at Kirkland, called Cipollone "a master at handling high-stakes cases."
4.) And Public Sector Experience Besides cutting his teeth in the private sector, Cipollone worked as an attorney in the George H.W. Bush Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr.
5.) Laura Ingraham's Mentor Laura Ingraham is another one of Cipollone's powerful friends. Ingraham affectionately refers to him as her godfather, crediting the powerful lawyer and conservative Catholic activist with her conversion to Catholicism in 2002.
• Source: AAN