Jan. 6 hearing witness: Irate Trump grabbed wheel, demanded to go to Capitol
Cassidy Hutchinson said Trump was warned about potential violence, crimes.
The House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack heard stunning testimony on Tuesday from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She told the committee and an international TV audience that then-President Donald Trump was warned about potential violence and crimes, that he wanted supporters with weapons let into his Jan. 6 rally, and that she was told he then demanded his security detail take him to the Capitol, going so far as to grab the wheel of the presidential SUV.
This was the sixth hearing this month investigating what the committee says was the conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Here is how the hearing unfolded:
Hutchinson says Meadows didn’t act on concerns of violence
Hutchinson described Meadows' underwhelming reaction to learning about the list of weapons that people had in the rally crowd that morning -- including knives, bear spray, guns and flagpoles with spears attached to them.
"I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone," Hutchinson said, noting it took Meadows a few moments to respond. When he did respond, he asked [security officials], "Alright, anything else?"
In previously taped deposition, Hutchinson told the committee it was accurate to say Meadows "did not act" on concerns of violence.
Witness: White House was warned 'Congress itself is the target on the 6th'
The bombshell information the committee is unfolding through Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony is that the Trump administration and Trump himself knew about the potential for violence before Jan. 6.
"I recall hearing the word 'Oath Keeper' and hearing the word 'Proud Boys' closer to the planning of the January 6 rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around," Hutchinson said in a taped deposition played by Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney then displayed a Capitol Police bulletin on Jan. 3 warning, "targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th."
Hutchinson also recalled receiving a call from then-national security adviser Robert O'Brien, after the Capitol Police bulletin, asking if he could speak with Meadows about the potential violence. She wasn't sure if that call ever happened.
Witness: Meadows told Hutchinson 'things might get real, real bad' on Jan. 6
Hutchinson described Tuesday conversations she had with Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 2, 2021 -- four days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson said Giuliani said to her 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.'"
When Hutchinson went to Meadows' office to relay her discussion with Giuliani, Meadows told her: "There is a lot going on, Cass, I don't know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6."
"That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6," Hutchinson testified. "I had a deeper concern with what was happening with the planning aspects."
Committee establishes Hutchinson's proximity to Trump
Introducing Hutchinson to the American people, Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Hutchinson to recall a typical day at the White House.
"When I moved over to the White House chief of staff's office with Mr. Meadows, when he became the fourth chief of staff, it's difficult to describe a typical day," she said.
Thompson established through a series of questions how Hutchinson's office was a five to 10-second walk from the Oval Office and that she regularly engaged with members of Congress and senior members of the Trump administration.
