Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the administration of former US President Donald Trump, has left after testifying during a public hearing by the US House of Representatives Select Committee. United States to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 28, 2022.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
In the harshness testimony before the House committee investigating the attacks on Capitol Hill, a former aide to the then President Donald Trump The Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, described Trump as an angry commander-in-chief in the weeks surrounding the riots.
An angry Trump lunged at his own Secret Service agent, threw a disc and refused to help his vice president as a crowd of angry rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence,” former Meadows aide, Cassidy Hutchinson told lawmakers during more than two hours of testimony Tuesday recalling what she had heard and seen in the days and weeks surrounding the events of January 6, 2021.
Trump took to his social media page on Truth Social to distance himself from the former aide and claimed that he barely knew her.
Here are some key takeaways from the hearing.
Trump Attacks Secret Service Agents
Hutchinson said she was told The former president attacked a secret agency agent after his security details refused to bring Trump to the US Capitol while his supporters rioted in the halls of Congress.
Hutchison remember a conversation she had with then-White House official Tony Ornato. She told the House panel that he explained to her that after Trump told his supporters he would join them in their march on the Capitol that he insisted insisted on the Secret Service to get him there.
When Trump got into the president’s limo, Ornato said Trump got the impression from Meadows that they were likely still going to the Capitol, Hutchinson testified.
When Secret Service Agent Bobby Engel relayed that they weren’t going because it wasn’t considered safe, Trump “had a very strong, very angry reaction to it,” Hutchinson said Ornato told her. .
Hutchinson said: “Tony describes him as an angry man. Trump has said things like: “I’m the effective president, get me to the Capitol now.”
Engel again refused, at which point Trump “reached his hand to the front of the car to grab the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, saying, ‘Sir, you need to get your hands off the wheel. . We went back to the West Wing,” Hutchinson testified.
Hutchinson said she was told Mr Trump “then used her free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel”. She added that when Ornato told her this story, he gestured towards his collarbone.
Trump was OK with weapons at the rally
Hutchinson also said Trump told aides he didn’t care if his supporters brought weapons to the January 6 rally to launch the attack.
Trump then said in effect, “I don’t care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me, take the mags. Let my people in, they can act. troops to the Capitol from here,” Hutchison said in pre-recorded testimony.
She said Trump is fine with removing the metal detector magnetometer because the president believes he is personally not in danger.
Trump tells staff Pence deserves to be hanged
Hutchinson told the committee that Trump indicated to his team that he believed at the time Vice President Mike Pence deserves to be hanged. Trump supporters repeatedly chanted “Mike Pence Cave” after the former vice president helped certify the election results.
“I remember Pat Cipollone saying, ‘They’re calling for the VP to actually be suspended,'” Hutchinson told the committee in a interview to describe how the former White House adviser approached Meadows about the riots.
“You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson said when describing Meadows’ reaction to Cipollone.
Trump threw his lunch at the wall
Weeks before the attacks, in December 2020, Trump threw his lunch and dishes against the wall when he learned that former Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department had not found any evidence. about widespread election fraud, according to testimony Tuesday.
After his defeat to President Joe Biden, Trump began claiming without evidence that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him thanks to widespread voter fraud. His own attorney general later found that there was no evidence to support that claim.
When news broke that the Justice Department had found no evidence to support his claims of election fraud, “I remember hearing noises coming from the hallway,” Hutchinson testified.
“I left the office and went down to the dining room and noticed that the door was already open and the waiter inside the dining room was changing the tablecloth on the dining table,” she testified.
