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:
Surprise hearing signals committee's urgency
The House select committee will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee "present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony," the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump's last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported her appearance.
Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 and offer significant insight into Meadows' actions and interactions with Trump.
Witness 'disgusted' by Trump’s attack on Pence
Cassidy Hutchinson said she was "disgusted" by President Trump's Twitter post during the Capitol attack disparaging then-Vice President Mike Pence for not single-handedly rejecting Joe Biden's electoral victory.
"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!" Trump tweeted.
Hutchinson recalled "feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really -- it felt personal. I was really saddened. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American."
Matthew Pottinger, who was then serving as the deputy national security adviser, told the committee in previous testimony, it said, that he decided to quit because of what Trump said in that social media post.
"I read that tweet, and made a decision at that moment to resign," Pottinger said. "That's where I knew that I was leaving that day, once I read that tweet."