Hutchinson cooperated extensively with the investigation after taking part in four closed-door testimonies. She brought the goods for her personal appearance on Tuesday. She revealed how then-President Donald Trump and his inner circle were warned of the potential for violence on January 6 and how Trump wanted to join the crowds of supporters in the US Capitol.
The testimonies supported the story the commission has been seeking for the past few weeks: that Trump instigated and supported the uprising as part of a desperate seizure of power to steal a second term, and that many of his top advisers thought his schemes were illegal.
Here are conclusions from Hutchinson’s key testimony.
Trump and his chief of staff warned of violence – including gunmen
Hutchinson did move the ball forward in finding that Trump was personally aware of the potential for violence, but still advanced on Jan. 6 with attempts to anger his supporters by interfering in a joint congressional session to attest to President Joe’s victory. Biden.
She said Trump was told this morning that the weapons were being confiscated by some of his supporters who came to the rally. Later, when Trump and his team were on the Ellipse – the large oval lawn on the south side of the White House – and before his speech, Trump barked orders at his staff to “remove the magic” – targeting metal detectors – because the people in the crowd “didn’t are here to hurt me. “
Trump also said, “I don’t care if they have guns,” Hutchinson said. This is especially shocking, because then Trump encouraged the same crowd to go to the Capitol, while MPs confirmed Biden’s victory. (Hundreds of staunch Trump supporters soon stormed the Capitol, many carrying knives, bear spray, metal rods, stun guns, and several pistols.)
When Hutchinson told his boss Meadows about the early reports of confiscated weapons, Meadows didn’t even lift his head from his phone, according to Hutchinson. Two days earlier, he had told her that “on January 6, things could get real, real, bad.”
“The potential for violence was learned or known before the violence began, early enough for President Trump to take steps to prevent it,” said Republican Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice president of the Republican Group. She added that Trump could have urged his supporters not to march to the Capitol or condemn the violence more quickly, but he did not do so because he “had something else in mind.”
Trump intended to go to the Capitol and insisted on doing so until the last minute
The select committee effectively demonstrated this on Tuesday by presenting a mixture of humiliating White House testimony and recordings showing that Trump intends to join his supporters in the Capitol and urging him to do so just minutes before the violence escalates.
It was previously known that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, but Hutchinson’s testimony for the first time found that people around Trump knew about this plan in advance.
The reality of Trump’s intentions became clear to national security officials in real time when they learned that the Secret Service was trying to find a way for the former president to travel to the Capitol while he was on stage, urging his followers to march, according to the National Security Diaries. of the Council chat of that day, which were first unveiled during Tuesday’s hearing.
NSC chat registrars provide a minute-by-minute account of how the situation unfolded from the perspective of senior White House national security officials on Jan. 6, and along with testimony given Tuesday, contradict Meadows’ account in his book, where he says Trump never intended to march to the Capitol.
“MOGUL is going to the capital … they are clearing the route now,” reads a message sent to the chat diary at 12:29 ET on January 6 – citing the code name of the former president’s secret service.
“MilAide has confirmed that it wants to walk,” a statement said at 12:32 p.m. “They are asking him to reconsider.
“So this is happening,” said a message sent at 12:47 p.m.
Hutchinson also testified that some in Trump’s orbit made it clear days before Jan. 6 that Trump wanted to travel to the US Capitol.
She told the commission Tuesday that Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told her on Jan. 2 – four days before the U.S. Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters – that “we are going to the Capitol” on Jan. 6 and that Trump himself was also plans to be there.
The aide recounts a second-hand incident in which Trump reached for the steering wheel
Hutchinson testified Tuesday that she heard a second-hand account of how Trump was so angry about his details with the secret services that he blocked him from going to the Capitol on Jan. 6 that he threw himself in front of his presidential limousine and tried to turn the steering wheel.
Tony Ornato, then deputy White House chief of staff, told Hutchinson that Robert Engel, who was the top secret service agent on Jan. 6, repeatedly told Trump on his return to the White House after Trump’s ellipse speech that he did not. it is safe to go to the Capitol.
According to Hutchinson, Ornato said Trump was shouting, “I’m the fucking president. Take me to the Capitol now.”
Trump then “reached for the front of the car to grab the steering wheel,” Hutchinson recalled. She added that according to Ornato, Trump used his other hand to “attack” Engel.
Engel and Ornato testified before the commission behind closed doors, but their statements were not used in Tuesday’s hearing.
Hutchinson also spoke of a separate outburst of Trump after then-Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press in December 2020 that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
“I remember hearing a noise coming down the hall,” Hutchinson began. She saw the president’s valet in the dining room changing the tablecloth, ketchup dripping on the wall, and a porcelain plate smashed on the floor.
“The president was extremely angry at the attorney general’s interview and threw his lunch on the wall,” Hutchinson said. – I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup from the wall.
The anecdote came when the commission questioned Hutchinson about Trump’s state of mind after losing the election.
Cipollone warns: “People will die and blood will be on your fucking hands”
Trump defended the rebels by chanting for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, according to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson relayed a conversation she witnessed between White House adviser Pat Chipolon and Meadows after they discussed with Trump the chants of violence against Pence.
“I remember Pat saying something like, ‘Mark, we need to do more.’ They literally called for the vice president to be hanged, ”Hutchinson recalled.
Meadows replied, “You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson said.
Cipollone replied, “This is devilish madness. We need to do more.”
Hutchinson testified that Chipolone had previously rushed to Meadows’ office after rebels stormed the Capitol and told Meadows what had happened and said they should meet with Trump.
“Mark, something has to be done, or people will die and the blood will be on your fucking hands,” Chipolone told Meadows, according to Hutchinson. “It’s getting out of hand.”
“There was great concern” in the White House from the 25th Amendment, cited after the riot
Trump delivered a speech on January 7, 2021, finally acknowledging that Biden would take office in part because there was “great concern” from the White House that Pence and the cabinet could invoke the 25th Amendment to to remove him from power, according to Cassidy’s testimony.
Hutchinson also testified that Trump did not want to include in his speech references to the prosecution of rebels who support Trump, but instead wanted to offer pardon for them. After the White House adviser’s office resigned, Trump did mention pardons in that speech.
If the 25th Amendment had been called, Trump could have put his presidency to a vote in Congress, where it would take two-thirds to oust him.
“There was a lot of concern about the potential reference to the 25th Amendment, and there were concerns about what would happen in the Senate if it did,” Hutchinson said.
He thought at the time that Trump needed the speech “as a cover” to protect himself from the threat that his cabinet was trying to remove him from power, Hutchinson said. She said this was a “secondary reason” for Trump to deliver the speech; the first was that Trump had to condemn the violent attack to try to prevent it from becoming his legacy.
As Trump delivered his speech effectively recognizing the election, he wanted to remove calls for “persecution of insurgents or calling them violent” from early drafts of his Jan. 7 speech, according to Hutchinson, but he wanted to apologize to his supporters.
“He didn’t want that inside,” Hutchinson said. “He wanted to add that he wanted to potentially pardon them.”
“He didn’t think they had done anything wrong,” Hutchinson said, referring to rebels backing Trump. “The people who did something wrong that day – or the person who did something wrong that day was Mike Pence, not standing with him.
Trump’s January 6 behavior was “un-American” and “unpatriotic,” Hutchinson said
In an emotional and strong testimony, Hutchinson said Trump’s Jan. 6 behavior was “unpatriotic” and “un-American.”
The commission asked Hutchinson to describe his reaction in real time on Jan. 6, when Trump attacked Pence in a tweet at 2:24 p.m. ET, which was after his supporters stormed the Capitol, forcing Pence, lawmakers and officials to flee for their lives.
“As an employee … I remember feeling frustrated, frustrated and really feeling personal. It was really sad,” Hutchinson said …
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