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.


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Witness: WH lawyer warned speechwriters of rhetoric ahead of Ellipse speech

Hutchinson said there were "many discussions" the morning of Jan. 6 about the rhetoric Trump would use at the speech that ultimately preceded the riot.

Hutchinson testified that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer for Trump, said it would be "foolish to include language that had been included at the president's request, which had lines along, to the effect of 'fight for Trump, we're going to march to the Capitol, I'll be there with you, fight for me, fight for what we're doing, fight for the movement,' things about the vice president at the time too."

"Both Mr. Herschmann and White House counsel's office were urging the speechwriters to not include that language for legal concerns and also for the optics of what it could portray the president wanting to do that day," Hutchinson said.

Trump at his speech ultimately said, "So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue" to give "weak" Republicans the "pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."


Witness: Trump 'furious' people with weapons couldn't get into Jan. 6 Ellipse rally: 'They are not here to hurt me'

Cassidy Hutchinson recalled how Trump was "furious" with the crowd size of his "Save America" rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and with aides who didn't want to let in individuals in who had weapons, which officials said ranged from AR-15-style rifles to bear spray.

"I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I heard the president say, "'I don't care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in,'" she recalled. "'They can march to the Capitol after the rally is over.'"

Vice chair Liz Cheney asked Americans to "reflect on that for a moment" and remember what Trump called on the crowd to do, knowing they were equipped with weapons and body armor.


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.


Extraordinary hearing closes

It was among the shortest but most shocking Jan. 6 public hearings so far.

Cassidy Hutchinson, for nearly two-hours Tuesday, testified that Trump and Meadows were aware the Capitol was a target and that Trump supporters at the "Save America" rally were armed with weapons when the president told urged them to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

She said Trump told aides to let individuals with weapons past security and into the crowd, which he was "furious" about due to its size, with Hutchinson recalling Trump saying, "'I don't care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags (magnetometers) away.'"

Trump wanted to go to the Capitol himself after his speech, she said, and there was even conversation about having him go into the House chamber, despite the White House counsel's office raising serious legal concerns and the Secret Service raising safety concerns.

Still, demanding to go to the Capitol, Hutchinson recalled being told that Trump grabbed the steering wheel in the president's SUV -- on the way back to the White House and said, "'I'm the f---ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now!'" before lunging at a Secret Service agent.

Hutchinson also testified Trump instructed Meadows to make contact with a "war room" in the Willard Hotel on the evening of Jan. 5 and advised Meadows against going in person after hearing Rudy Giuliani's plans for the day, which she said she overheard included "Oath Keepers" and "Proud Boys."

In a statement to ABC News, Roger Stone said it was "FALSE" that he spoke to Meadows on the phone on Jan. 5 "or any other date."