Sixth Public Hearing of the January 6th Commitee

Two years after completing a White House summer internship, Cassidy Hutchinson was in the room where the president’s top aides debated how they could overturn his election loss.

Hutchinson, 25, who served as a top aide to Mark Meadows, chief of staff to President Donald Trump, is scheduled to testify Tuesday at a surprise hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

She was known to have detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump White House, including in the critical days that Trump and his advisers plotted to reverse President Joe Biden’s election victory.

What’s already clear in limited disclosures of her private testimony is that Hutchinson saw and heard things of potentially vital interest to both the committee and the Justice Department.

Hutchinson has described meetings with the White House counsel’s office in which participants discussed the legality of substituting electors for states that went for Biden, then the president-elect, with false “alternate electors” who would select Trump. The former president and his allies tried in vain to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was overseeing the certification of electors on Jan. 6.

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As Mr. Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicle that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of 'Cass, are you excited for the sixth? It's going to be a great day.' I remember looking at him and saying, 'Rudy, can you explain what's happening on the sixth?' And he responded something to the effect of 'we're going to the Capitol. It's going to be great. The President's going to be there. He's going to look powerful. He's going to be with the members. He's going to be with the senators. Talk to the chief about it. Talk to the chief about it. He knows about it.

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The President's chief of staff Mark Meadows and Donald Trump himself were aware of the possibility of violence on January 6, 2021, including that Trump supporters had weapons when they gathered on the Ellipse that day, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has testified.

Hutchinson also testified that a White House official, Tony Ornato, said he talked to Trump about weapons at his rally on January 6, 2021.

The House select committee investigation learned from law enforcement reports that people at the Trump rally on the Ellipse had pepper spray, knives, brass knuckles, Tasers and blunt objects that could be used as weapons, Vice Chair Liz Cheney said on Tuesday.

Hutchinson corroborated that this was known inside the White House the morning of January 6 as well. She said she witnessed a discussion about the weapons between Ornato and Meadows, her boss.

Ornato informed Meadows about the weaponry, and mentioned to Hutchinson "these f'ing people are fastening spears onto the ends of flagpoles," she said in previous testimony that the committee presented as a video clip on Tuesday.

But Hutchinson said that Meadows, on the morning of January 6, didn't look up from his phone, seeming to barely register what was said.

Meadows asked Ornato, "Have you talked to the President?" she recalled. Ornato said he had made Trump aware, she added.

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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

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GreatLakes4Ever said:

Hutchinson said Trump was planning for another speech at the Capitol that day.

Edit: Trump also tried to physically take control of his limousine so he could go the Capitol after his speech instead of going to the White House.

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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 “lunge” at Engel.

Here's how Hutchinson described the President's anger at being prevented from going to the Capitol:

"Tony proceeded to tell me that when the President got in the beast he was under the impression from Mr. Meadows that the off-the-record movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to happen, but that Bobby had more information. So as the President had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going up to the Capitol and when Bobby relayed to him we're not, we don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West Wing, the President had a very strong, very angry response to that. Tony described him as being 'irate.' The President said something to the effect of 'I'm the F-ing President, take me to the Capitol now.'"

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East of Eden said:

Sorry, not shocked.

Trump had every reason to question the validity of the election, heck, a whole bunch of Democrats are currently questioning the validity of the SCOTUS.

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Not long after the rioters broke into the US Capitol, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone rushed into Mark Meadows' office demanding a meeting with former President Donald Trump, the former White House chief of staff's aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 committee.

"I remember Pat saying to him something to the effect of, 'the rioters have gotten to the Capitol. We need to go down and see the President now,'" Hutchinson said in a videotaped interview.

"And Mark looked up at him and said, 'he doesn't want to do anything, Pat,'" she said.
Cipollone emphasized the need for action to control the situation to Meadows, Hutchison added.

She said Cipollone "very clearly said this to Mark — something to the effect of, 'Mark, something needs to be done or people are going to die and the blood's going to be on your f-ing hands. This is getting out of control. I'm going down there."

Meadows then handed his phones to Hutchinson and walked out of his office with Cipollone, she told the committee.

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GreatLakes4Ever said:

Liz Cheney is showing evidence of witness tampering from Trump associates.

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essentialsaltes said:

I (vaguely) understand there are consequences if you stop invoking the fifth, answer a few questions and later want to reinvoke it on related topics, but it's a bad look when General Flynn can't answer a question as simple as:

Do you believe in the peaceful transition of power in the U.S.?

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