Key takeaways from explosive 6th hearing


Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after testifying during a public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 28, 2022.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

In scathing testimony before the House committee investigating the attacks, a former aide to then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, portrayed Trump as an enraged commander-in-chief in the weeks surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

A raging Trump lunged at his own Secret Service agent, threw plates and refused to help his vice president as throngs of angry rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence,” Meadows’ former aide Cassidy Hutchinson told lawmakers in more than two hours of testimony Tuesday recalling what she heard and saw in the days and weeks surrounding the attack.

Trump took to his social media page on Truth Social to distance himself from the former aide and claimed he hardly knew her.

Here are some key takeaways from the hearing

Trump attacks Secret Service agent

Hutchinson said she was told 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. 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, because it wasn’t 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 on the Capitol.

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. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away,”…



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