On Tuesday, explosive testimony from the Jan.6 committee brought to light the actions of former President Trump on the day that the violent Capitol attack occurred.
Cassidy Hutchinson was an aide to Mark Meadows, former White House Chief Of Staff. She testified that Trump wanted the Ellipse full of supporters for his speech Jan. 6. However, some of them were watching from afar to avoid having to go through metal detectors or surrender their weapons.
Trump stated, Hutchinson said that “I don’t effing care if they have weapons aEUR” they weren’t here to harm me.” “Take the magnetometers away, and let my people in.”
This testimony is a bombshell. It shows that Trump knew the crowd was arm-armed when he ordered his supporters to march to Capitol to “fight like Hell” against the certification of the 2020 election results.
Elie Honig, an ex-federal prosecutor, said to NPR’s Rachel Martin, that Hutchinson’s testimony regarding Trump asking for the magnetometers to be removed creates a “prosecutionable case against Donald Trump.”
He knew that the crowd was armed before he entered the stage. Honig stated that he knew that they were heading to the Capitol. He was confident that they would not do anything to him and that they would be there for him. Honig also said that he was willing risk his security to tell people that he wanted those mags removed. To me, this could lead to a conspiracy, obstruction, or seditious conspiracy. This requires that the force involved was shown.
Hutchinson also quoted her ex-boss as saying that Trump “doesn’t want to do any” about the calls for violence against Mike Pence, then-Vice President.
Meadows said, “He thinks Mike is deserving it,” she remembered.
David French, editor at The Dispatch, praised Hutchinson’s “most extraordinary congressional testimony” and stated that her appearance before Congress shifted his skepticism regarding it producing evidence that Trump was criminally liable for the Capitol attack.
He wrote that “Hutchinson’s sworn testimony closing a gap in Trump’s criminal case, and Trump is closer than ever to a credible prosecution,”
Washington Examiner, a right-leaning newspaper, said that Hutchinson’s testimony “oughtto ring the death knell of former President Donald Trump’s political career” as well as that Trump “is unfit to be anywhere close to power ever again.”
Due to new evidence, the hearings were extended and will likely include additional testimony by Hutchinson.
The New York Times was told by William Barr, the former Attorney General, that the hearing gave investigators “definitely a lot of food for thought.”
After Hutchinson’s testimony before the committee Trump seemed to distance himself from Hutchinson, writing that he “hardly knows[s]” her and “other than what I hear very negative about her (a complete phony, and a ‘leaker ‘).”).
Trump posted on Truth Social, a social-media platform he owns, that he “didn’t want or ask that we make space for people with guns [to watch my speech]” and called her testimony “fake and sick.”
Hutchinson testified that Trump had intended to visit the Capitol Jan. 6 and was “irate” at being told it wouldn’t happen.
Hutchinson stated that Trump believed he would be taken directly to the Capitol following his remarks at Ellipse. She said that Tony Ornato (then White House deputy chief of staff, operations), relayed to him later that day that Trump was furious that Secret Service refused to transport him to Capitol. Instead, he demanded that they return to White House.
Ornato said that Trump had stated, “I’m an effing president.” Hutchinson said that Ornato had told her that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel and then grab the agent.
She said, “When Mr. Ornato had told this story to me he had moved toward his clavicles.”
Hutchinson, who was being questioned, testified that Bobby Engel, Trump’s Secret Service detail head, was there when Ornato told the story to her. She did not dispute it.
Numerous news outlets reported that Engel and Ornato had denied telling Hutchinson of the incident, and were willing to testify that it did not happen.
In a statement, the Secret Service stated that it had cooperated with the committee. They would also respond to Tuesday’s allegations.
Below is our statement regarding today’s hearing before the Select Committee on January 6, 2019. pic.twitter.com/VrhPRzYuSt
Honig said that NPR reports questioning the anecdote regarding what happened in Trump’s car are potentially harmful.
Honig stated, “This is what I call a credibility contest and people would have the decision of who they believe.”
Honig stated that Alyssa Farah, another White House staffer, has publicly said that she testified before the committee about something Tony Ornato said. This was a statement that she claimed was damaging to the president. Ornato denied it, and she said that. “If I must choose between Cassidy Hutchinson, Alyssa Farah…and Tony Ornato…I’m going to be on Hutchinson’s side.
Honig said that she came across to him, through the lens of my former prosecutor, as very credible. “She was cautious, she’s corroborated and she’s supported up by other evidence. She has nothing to lose by doing this.
Hutchinson’s lawyers said Wednesday that Hutchinson stood by the testimony she gave yesterday under oath to the Select Committee to investigate the January 6th Attack against the United States Capitol.
On Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is on the Jan.6 committee, stated that Hutchinson had no reason to fabricate that story and that she considers her to be a credible witness. He said that if others have evidence, he would invite them to testify under oath.
He said, “We are all yours.”
