Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne agrees to meet with Jan. 6 committee after Cipollone testimony: report
Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock and a Donald Trump loyalist, will meet with the Jan. 6 committee later this week.
The former tech executive will sit for an interview with congressional investigators behind closed doors on Friday, according to three sources, and one source added there were no ground rules or defined topics for the conversation, reported CNN.
Byrne participated in a mid-December 2020 meeting at the White House with Trump, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell and various staffers that focused on efforts to block certification of Joe Biden's election and seizing voting machines.
The panel asked former White House counsel Pat Cipollone about that Dec. 18, 2020, meeting during his interview last week, and excerpts from his interview will be featured during Tuesday afternoon's public hearing, which will focus on the violence that erupted on Trump's behalf at the U.S. Capitol.
Two sources familiar with Cipollone's testimony told CNN about that White House meeting with election conspiracy theorists, including Byrne, and one source said the former White House counsel told the panel he believed the meeting was insane.
The gathering began informally, according to two sources, but eventually devolved into screaming matches as Trump aides disputed some of the more outrageous suggestions by Powell and Flynn, and select committee aides said Flynn's role will be highlighted at Tuesday's hearing.
Committee aides also pointed out that Trump sent the infamous "will be wild" invitation the following day to encourage his supporters to converge on Washington, D.C., as Congress certified the election.
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