Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/188

188 And the Chief of Staff said, essentially, I understand you're on your way to the Capitol.

I said, yes, sir. I'm with Bowdich now. We should be there in a few minutes.

And he said something to the effect of the President wants this situation brought under control. When you get over there, you need to take charge of the Federal agencies. You need to get that place cleared out and operational as quickly as possible.

That's not a quote, but that was the gist of what he told me.

And I said, basically, yes, sir, I understand that, we'll be there in a few minutes, and we'll clear the place, and we'll get it operational.

Do you have any idea how he knew you were on the way to the Capitol?

I assume that the DAG told him. I was keeping the DAG—I wasn't going to do these things on my own. He's my boss. So I was calling him and saying, hey, look, I'm going to go to the WFO now. I'm going to go to the assembly area and all that. And he was in agreement with all that. So he knew where I was going, and he must have—I assumed he told the Chief of Staff.

Is that the only call you remember directly with Chief of Staff Meadows?

Yes. I know there was at least one other one with Pat Cipollone, but the Chief of Staff may have been on there, I just don't remember.

And do you remember the nature of the call -- of the conversations with Mr. Cipollone?

He said something to the effect of there are a lot of calls going on, but there are very few people who are close to what's actually happening on the ground. So if you can be on these calls, it would be extremely helpful.

And so if you can make these calls, I know, you know, they're showing up on your calendar or coming in emails and things like that, please try to pay attention to them.