Trump’s fury on display at Jan. 6 hearing. Key takeaways from explosive day of testimony from former White House aide

Trump’s fury on display at Jan. 6 hearing. Key takeaways from explosive day of testimony from former White House aide


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

Trump was OK with weapons at rally

Trump told staff Pence deserved to be hanged

Hutchinson told the committee that Trump indicated to his team that he believed 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 F’ing hung,” Hutchinson told the committee in an interview to describe how the former 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 said in describing Meadows’ response to Cipollone.

Trump throws lunch against wall

A few weeks before the attacks, in December 2020, Trump threw his lunch and dishes against a wall when he learned that former Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department didn’t find any evidence of widespread election fraud.

In the wake of his loss to President Joe Biden, Trump began to claim without evidence that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him thanks to widespread voter fraud. His own attorney general later found that there was no evidence to support that assertion.

As the news broke that the Justice Department had found no evidence to support his claims of election fraud, “I remember hearing noise coming from down the hallway,” Hutchinson said.

“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 testified.





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