When President Donald Trump learned that his attorney general had publicly denied his allegations of election fraud, he lifted the lunch to the wall so hard that the porcelain plate shattered and the ketchup went down.
And later that day, enraged at being driven back to the White House instead of the Capitol, Trump tried to control the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle and uttered words like, “I’m the shitty president. Now to the Capitol.”
Donald Trump reportedly grabbed the steering wheel of the car driven by a Secret Service agent in a fit of rage. (AP)
Trump’s volcanic temperament has been the subject of history throughout his business career, but during his presidency he has never been described in such evocative detail as in the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a junior White House employee. whose proximity to the then president and chief aides. that day gave him a very close vision.
Hutchinson offered hitherto unknown details about the extent of Trump’s rage in his final weeks in office, his awareness that supporters had guns with them, and his ambivalence when the mutineers besieged the Capitol.
The testimony came when the Justice Department expanded its investigation into the insurgency and deepened, but did not resolve, questions about whether Trump himself could face criminal charges for his conduct. Although Attorney General Merrick Garland has given no indication as to whether his department will file a criminal case against Trump, some legal experts said Hutchinson’s testimony could offer prosecutors additional facts to investigate.
Cassidy Hutchinson gave an extraordinary testimony to the January 6 committee. (AP)
Potentially problematic for Trump could be his reaction on the morning of Jan. 6 to news that weapons, knives and other weapons were being confiscated from security projections as crowds of supporters rallied for a rally in front of the White House. Angry that not everyone could come in to see him, Trump, according to Hutchinson, said words like, “I don’t care if they have guns. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f’ing magazines. And they can march to the Capitol “. “Magicians” is a reference to magnetometers.
“A hearing in Congress is not a court, but if that’s not powerful evidence that I was not only aware of the possibility of violence on the 6th but I wanted to actively encourage it, I’m not sure what it is,” Stephen Vladeck said. , professor of law at the University of Texas.
Whatever the outcome of a criminal proceeding, the revelations come as Trump is laying the groundwork for another presidential race in 2024.
Donald Trump reportedly threw a plate of food against a White House wall. (AP)
Assistants have been debating the merits of when they should announce their intentions, and some argue they should do so so early this summer to maximize leverage and avoid a multitude of likely challengers and others argue that they should follow the tradition and wait until after the middle of November term. elections.
Seeking strong negative publicity around his testimony, Trump issued a statement on his social media platform denying that he had ever complained about the size of the crowd or that he had tried to “make room for people with guns to see the my speech “.
Trump is well-practiced to marginalize his critics and accusers, but Hutchinson’s well-calibrated testimony will test that power again.
Tuesday’s hearing, the sixth of the House commission investigating the insurgency, was accompanied by suspense even before it began. It was hastily announced Monday, but the committee did not reveal the identity of the witness until Hutchinson entered the courtroom.
President Donald Trump speaking with his chief of staff Mark Meadows before Trump spoke at the January 6 demonstration at the Ellipse. (AP)
When previous hearings have involved groups of witnesses who have explained pressure campaigns to the Justice Department or local election officials to overturn election results, Tuesday’s hearing included a singular narrator with an easy-to-follow story. splash of history. be there color. Some anecdotes she witnessed herself. Others heard from fellow staff.
He remembered, for example, being in the White House on the afternoon of December 1, 2020 when he heard a sudden noise. It turned out that Trump had just learned of an interview that Attorney General William Barr had given to The Associated Press in which Barr said the Justice Department had not found widespread fraud that could alter the election result.
Inside the dining room was a shattered porcelain plate on the floor, apparently thrown in dismay by the president. The ketchup went down the wall. Hutchinson grabbed a towel to clean it.
January 6: The day that shook American democracy
He later learned of a separate episode on the afternoon of Jan. 6 when Trump tried to take control of the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle to take it to the Capitol and not the White House. He was, he said, “the president.” Trump was ordered to get his hand off the wheel.
In this case and others, according to the witness, the president’s will did not always prevail and Hutchinson detailed the best efforts of the aides to curb Trump’s worst impulses. On the morning of Jan. 6, for example, White House attorney Pat Cipollone warned Hutchinson that if Trump went to the Capitol to intervene in election certification, “We will be charged with every crime imaginable.”
If the Justice Department believes it has a case against the president, especially one that could further divide an already polarized nation, it remains an open question. But there is also no doubt that the investigation is expanding far beyond the rioters themselves, with law enforcement officials last week serving a wave of nationwide citations to state election officials.
Mike Pence is watching a video that Donald Trump posted on social media while hiding from the January 6 rioters. (AP)
“When you have witnesses who are in these conversations, who are in these rooms, who are actively participating in the high-level discussions of January 6, it seems to me that one of two things must be true: either they are lying. President Trump and many people close to him are in grave danger, “Vladeck said.