According to an ex-employee, former US President Donald Trump wanted to drive to the Capitol himself on January 6 last year, despite massive security concerns, where Congress was to certify the election of his successor Joe Biden. At a public hearing by the investigative committee on the Capitol attack, Cassidy Hutchinson, then assistant to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, said Trump was not dissuaded by concerns about possible legal consequences.
During the rally in front of the White House on January 6 – immediately before his supporters violently stormed the Capitol – Trump still assumed that he would personally drive to the Capitol, Hutchinson said.
When the president was told on leaving the rally by his top Secret Service bodyguard that he could not go to Congress for security reasons, he was very “angry.” Citing a conversation with a colleague and the Secret Service official responsible immediately after the incident, Hutchinson said Trump even tried to grab the driver’s steering wheel in the armored limousine.
He is said to have said, “I’m the damn President, take me to the Capitol.” The bodyguard grabbed his arm to keep him away from the steering wheel, she continued. Trump used his free arm to fight back. Trump had goaded his supporters to march to the Capitol during the January 6 rally in front of the White House. He also said publicly at the time that he would come. As a result, there were several reports that Trump actually wanted to come to the Capitol – but so far no confirmation from Trump’s leadership circle at the time.
Plate full of food against the wall
Hutchinson also said that Trump threw a plate of food against the wall in anger at an interview with the then Attorney General for the 2020 presidential election.
She left her office in December and went to the White House dining room, Hutchinson said.
The President had previously quoted her then boss Meadows there. The valet “signaled me to come in and then pointed to the front of the room, near the mantel by the TV, where I first noticed ketchup dripping down the wall,” she said. A broken porcelain plate lay on the floor.
The servant then told her that Trump was so upset about an interview with Attorney General William Barr that he threw his lunch against the wall. Barr said in the interview that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Hutchinson testified before the committee on Tuesday in detail about her experiences in the White House and also spoke about the events surrounding January 6, 2021. The panel in the US Congress is currently working on the attack on the Capitol.