In scathing statement prior to the House committee examining the attacks on Capitol Hill, a previous assistant to then-President Donald Trump’s chief of personnel, Mark Meadows, depicted Trump as an angered leader in chief in the weeks surrounding the riot.
A furious Trump lunged at his own Secret Service representative, tossed plates and declined to assist his vice president as crowds of mad rioters shouted “hang Mike Pence,” Meadows’ previous assistant Cassidy Hutchinson informed legislators in more than 2 hours of statement Tuesday remembering what she heard and saw in the days and weeks surrounding the occasions ofJan 6, 2021.
Trump required to his social networks page on Truth Social to distance himself from the previous assistant and declared he barely understood her.
Here are some crucial takeaways from the hearing.
Trump attacks Secret Service representative
Hutchinson stated she was informed the former president attacked a Secret Service agent after his security detail refused to take Trump to the U.S. Capitol while his supporters went to riot in the halls of Congress.
Hutchison recalled 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 on their march on the Capitol that he insisted to the Secret Service to bring him there.
When Trump got in the presidential limo, Ornato said Trump was under the impression from Meadows that they were likely still going to the Capitol, Hutchinson testified.
When Secret Service Special Agent Bobby Engel relayed that they weren’t going to go because it wasn’t considered secure, Trump “had a very strong, a very angry response to that,” Hutchinson said Ornato told her.
“Tony described him as being irate,” Hutchinson said. Trump said something like: “I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”
Engel again refused, at which point Trump “reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing,'” Hutchinson testified.
Trump “then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson said she was told. She added that when Ornato told her this story, he motioned his hands toward his clavicles.
Trump was OK with weapons at rally
Hutchinson also said Trump told aides he didn’t care if his supporters brought weapons to the Jan. 6 rally proceeding the attack.
Trump then said words to the effect of, “I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me, take the effing mags away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here,” Hutchison said in prerecorded testimony.
She stated Trump was great with getting rid of metal-detecting magnetometers due to the fact that the president was persuaded he wasn’t personally in risk.
Trump informed personnel Pence was worthy of to be hanged
Hutchinson informed the committee that Trump suggested to his group that he thought then Vice President Mike Pence deserved to be hanged. Trump’s supporters repeatedly chanted “Hang Mike Pence” after the former vice president helped certify the results of the election.
“I remember Pat Cipollone saying, ‘They’re literally calling for the VP to be effing hung,” Hutchinson told the committee in an interview to explain how the previous White House counsel approached Meadows about the riot.
“You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson stated in explaining Meadows’ action to Cipollone.
Trump tosses lunch versus wall
A couple of weeks prior to the attacks, in December 2020, Trump tossed his lunch and meals versus a wall when he discovered that previous Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department didn’t discover any proof of extensive election scams, according to Tuesday’s statement.
In the wake of his loss to President Joe Biden, Trump started to claim without proof that the 2020 election had actually been “stolen” from him thanks to extensive citizen scams. His own attorney general of the United States later on discovered that there was no proof to support that assertion.
As the news broke that the Department of Justice had actually discovered no proof to support his claims of election scams, “I remember hearing noise coming from down the hallway,” Hutchinson affirmed.
“I left the office and went down to the dining room and noticed that the door was propped open and the valet was inside the dining room changing the tablecloth off of the dining room table,” she affirmed.