No one was disappointed by the surprise extraordinary hearing on Tuesday before the House Committee of Inquiry into the events of January 6, which heard from Cassidy Hutchinson, special secretary to Trump’s chief of staff Mike Meadows. Hutchinson, a junior official but with full access to all major players in the White House, provided sensational details about the events of the morning of January 6 at the presidential residence.
The testimony first established that not only Trump but also key members of his staff, such as Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, were fully aware of the likely outcome of the rally called by Trump to urge Vice President Pence to subvert the election results at the last moment. Both Meadows and Giuliani allegedly told Hutchinson (who later testified that the two would seek presidential pardons) that it was going to be a special day.
“Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It’s going to be a great day,” she recounted Giuliani saying. “We’re going to the Capitol, it’s going to be great. The president is going to be there, he is going to look powerful. Talk to [Meadows] about it, he knows about it.” Later, when she asked him about it, Meadows betrayed some concern: “things might get real, real bad on Jan 6.”
On the morning of the day of the assault, Hutchinson described an already moody Trump as he watched the assembly of his “patriots” on the Mall esplanade. According to her, he was furious that the crowd was not large enough and worried that photos would show empty spaces. As Secret Service agents worked to screen protesters at access points and increasingly concerned messages about the large number of armed individuals present came in over the service channels, Trump reportedly exclaimed, “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons […] They’re not here to hurt me. Take the fucking mags (metal detectors – n.tr.) away. Let the people in, they can march to the Capitol from here.”
Hutchinson’s account continued with the events that followed the notorious rally in which Trump riled up the crowd against the “traitors” in Congress, eventually inciting them to march on the Capitol. At this point, the level of concern rose considerably in the White House offices. Attorney Pat Cipollone is reported to have said that there were “serious legal concerns” with the President going to the Capitol, and that “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.”
However, nothing seemed to persuade Trump to desist from plans to march at the head of his people in a last-minute attempt to prevent the certification of the election. This was confirmed in a video deposition by another aide, Max Miller: “He said, ‘I want to go down to the Capitol.’.”
Under his instructions, the Secret Service was desperately searching for a way to allow him to do so safely. The transcript of a message sent that day at 12:29 p.m. reads “MOGUL (the code name for the President)’s going to the Capital … they are clearing a route now.”
In her office, Hutchinson got a frantic call from House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, after he heard Trump in his speech saying he would come to the Capitol. After she said that had not been the plan, McCarthy said: “Well, he just said it onstage, Cassidy. Figure it out. Don’t come up here!” At this point, the fighting on the steps had escalated and the Secret Service decided that the mission was simply too risky.
The climactic scene occurred in “the Beast,” the president’s armored SUV, where Trump found himself with a Secret Service driver who told him the situation at the Capitol had escalated, it was not safe and he would be taken back to the White House. This is the point at which Trump lost his temper: “I’m the fucking president, take me up to the Capitol now!” When he was refused once more, the still-acting president of the United States of America grabbed the steering wheel and attempted to turn the car around, and had to be physically restrained in the scuffle that followed.
Hutchinson also recounted that in December 2020, after Attorney General William Barr denied there had been any voter fraud in an interview, she saw “ketchup dripping down the wall and … a shattered porcelain plate on the floor” in the White House dining room, and she was told by a valet that Trump was “really ticked off about this. I would stay clear of him.”
