Speaking to a gaggle of reporters after Tuesday’s explosive testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, January 6th House Select Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Donald Trump’s actions at the Ellipse and afterward indicate he was “willing to do anything to overthrow the presidential election of 2020.” While he wouldn’t comment on certain aspects of any upcoming hearings or what the Justice Department might do in the wake of Hutchinson’s revelations, Raskin was firm in telling them Trump bears full responsibility for the violence at the Capitol.
The fallout from the hearings has also reached Trump World, where other former aides have anonymously been quoted by CNN as being as shocked by Hutchinson’s testimony as the rest of the viewing audience.
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 28: Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee on the January 6th insurrection in the Cannon House Office Building on June 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
One Trump ally told CNN the testimony from Hutchinson, a former top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, would seal Meadows’ fate as “persona non grata,” as warned recently by Michael Cohen. “This is one of the reasons [Trump] is furious with Meadows. He was already iced out but now he will be persona non grata,” this person said.
Riggleman – who has seen the bulk of the evidence – says we haven't seen anything yet, and that Cassidy Hutchinson is just a bridge to the future hearings and the evidence the committee has in its back pocket.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) June 28, 2022
Trump made a weak attempt to distance himself from Hutchinson, whom he described as “bad news” on Tuesday, came after the committee showed renderings of the West Wing to demonstrate just how close she was to the Oval Office as an assistant to Meadows.
Multiple former White House aides also publicly vouched for Hutchinson’s proximity to Trump and his chief of staff before and during her appearance on Tuesday.
Having worked w/ Cassidy Hutchinson, I know she was very dedicated to her role while working for Mark Meadows in the Trump White House. She has nothing to hide & no reason to lie about those who knew what they were doing was wrong & sought pardons. Americans should believe her.
CNN quotes another person close to Trump, who said he was “nervous” about Tuesday’s hearing after feeling triumphant amid back-to-back Supreme Court decisions protecting a right to conceal and carry a gun and ending the constitutional right to abortion. “He definitely wasn’t expecting a twist like this,” said the person close to Trump.
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