One question Trump keeps asking: When will the January 6 hearings end?

The six public hearings held thus far have been more effective than many in Trump’s orbit anticipated, including when a former White House aide testified publicly about his behavior the day of the Capitol insurrection. Some allies had assured the former President that the last televised hearing would likely be this week, but then committee members said those plans shifted to next week, delaying the conclusion of the hearings that Trump seeks.

While often using expletives, Trump has continued to vent that no one is on the dais defending him or his actions on the day of the Capitol insurrection. He has suggested having allies, like Steve Bannon, come forward to do so.

Privately, he has blasted the former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, as “crazy” and “psycho.” During public testimony last month, Hutchinson revealed, among other things, that Trump knew protesters coming to the Capitol on January 6 were armed, and yet he wanted them to attend his rally and even join them at the Capitol.

Last week, Bannon, who defied a congressional subpoena and is set to go to trial on criminal contempt charges, told the committee that he is now willing to testify, ideally at a public hearing, according to a letter obtained by CNN. His offer came after he received a letter from Trump waiving executive privilege, although both the committee and federal prosecutors contend that privilege claim never gave Bannon carte blanche to ignore a congressional subpoena in the first place.

However, Bannon’s potential testimony might do little to assuage Trump’s desire for a public defender. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who sits on the January 6 panel, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that public testimony from Bannon was unlikely, noting that the committee typically does depositions.

“This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered, and you can’t do that in a live format,” Lofgren said.

The committee was interested in speaking to Bannon about his communications with Trump in December 2020, when Bannon reportedly urged him to focus on the January 6 certification of the presidential election results. Committee members were also interested in Bannon’s comments in the run-up to the Capitol insurrection, including a podcast on January 5, in which he predicted, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

Unease over Cipollone’s testimony

“Stop hiding in the background, Pat. Grow a spine & go on record,” Trump Jr. tweeted.

Two sources said that there is hope among some Trump allies that Cipollone will respect executive privilege, but did not go into detail as to what exactly would fall under privilege. Cipollone invoked executive privilege during his interview with the committee despite the panel’s attempts to pose questions that would not have required such a response, a person familiar with the interview previously told CNN.

Some Trump allies and former staffers are concerned over what Cipollone might have said, given his omnipresence, according to one source familiar with these conversations. As CNN has reported, Cipollone was often around, sitting in both critical and more mundane meetings. Because of this, there are questions about what was actually said and by whom in front of him.

The committee has interviewed several high-profile witnesses from the Trump White House but, for the most part, some sources close to the former President have sought to downplay any concern about their willingness to testify.

The view of this specific source regarding Cipollone represents a noticeable shift in thinking given Cipollone’s visibility on a host of potentially problematic issues for Trump and his allies.

And those issues are not only pertinent to the committee’s investigation but could overlap with ongoing criminal investigations that have intensified in recent weeks and increasingly threaten to ensnare the former President and those around him.