In a stunning testimony before the Jan 6 Panel on Tuesday, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, made a series of bombshell revelations with potentially huge repercussions for former President Donald Trump.
Here are some of the shocking revelations Hutchinson made during her testimony:
Trump said Pence deserved chants calling for him to be hanged:
Hutchinson said that she heard Meadows say that Trump said Vice President Mike Pence deserved it and that he did not think the MAGA rioters were doing anything wrong.
Don't Miss
“I remember Pat saying something to the effect of, ‘Mark, we need to do something more, they’re literally calling for the vice president to be f—ing hung.’ And Mark had responded something to the effect of, ‘You heard it, Pat, he thinks Mike deserves it, he doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.'”
Trump shattered his lunch plate after learning Barr said election wasn’t fraudulent:
Hutchinson described Trump’s angry reaction after former Attorney General Bill Barr said in an interview with the Associated Press that the Department of Justice had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud after the 2020 election. Hutchinson testified that after learning about the interview Trump went down to the White House dining room and threw a plate against the wall, shattering it.
“I left the office and went down to the dining room and I noticed that the door was propped open and the valet was inside the dining room changing the table cloth off of the dining room table. He motioned for me to come in and then pointed towards the front of the room near the fireplace mantle and the TV where I first noticed there was ketchup dripping down the wall and there’s a shattered porcelain plate on the floor.” Hutchinson said that the valet told her that Trump was “extremely angry” at Barr “and had thrown his lunch against the wall, which was causing them to have to clean up.”
Trump assaulted a Secret Service agent on his way back to the White House on Jan. 6:
Hutchinson testified that she was told that Trump became “irate” when informed by security that he would not be going to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because the situation was not secure. Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, told Hutchinson that Robert Engel, who was the Secret Service agent in charge on Jan. 6, 2021, repeatedly told Trump on their way back to the White House after Trump’s Ellipse speech that it wasn’t safe to go to the Capitol. And she testified that she heard a secondhand account of how Trump was so enraged at his Secret Service detail for blocking him from going to the Capitol that he lunged to the front of his presidential limo and tried to turn the wheel.
According to Hutchinson, Ornato recounted Trump screaming, “I’m the F’ing President. Take me up to the Capitol now.” Trump then “reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel,” Hutchinson remembered learning. She added that, according to Ornato, Trump used his other hand to “lunge” at Engel, grabbing him by the clavicle.
Mark Meadows asked for a presidential pardon:
Hutchinson told the committee that her former boss, Mark Meadows, sought a presidential pardon related to Jan. 6, 2021.
“Mr. Meadows did seek that pardon, yes, ma’am,” she answered in response to Cheney’s question. In addition to Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump, also sought a pardon, Hutchinson told the committee.
Trump knew his supporters were armed but said he didn’t care that they had weapons:
Hutchinson testified that she overheard Trump saying that he did not care if his supporters had weapons — and suggested he had no issue with them marching to the Capitol armed. “I overheard the President say something to the effect of ‘I don’t F-ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the F-ing mags away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in, take the F-ing mags away.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the House Select Committee chair, said in his opening remarks that Hutchinson embodies “courage” for testifying and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said in her opening statement that Hutchinson’s testimony “touches on several important and cross-cutting topics, topics that are relevant to each of our future hearings.”
Aides to Trump were left speechless amid Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday, acknowledging that her testimony was “a bombshell.”
“This is a bombshell. It’s stunning. It’s shocking…I don’t have words. It’s just stunning,” said one Trump adviser.
Watch her testimony below:
