Status: 06/28/2022 11:44 p.m
At the hearings on the storming of the US Capitol, a former employee heavily incriminated ex-President Trump. So he knew that some of his followers were armed. Trump also wanted to go to the Capitol himself.
A former White House staffer has heavily incriminated former US President Donald Trump in the committee of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol. Cassidy Hutchinson said in a surprising public hearing that Trump knew that some of his supporters who gathered for a demonstration on January 6, 2021 were armed.
Nevertheless, he ordered them not to be stopped on their march to the Capitol and even demanded that metal detectors be removed at the entrance to the rally. Trump said: “You’re not here to do anything to me. Take the shit detectors away. Let my people in. You can march to the Capitol from here,” said the then assistant to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows in the US committee -House of Representatives. Then, as she remembers, he said something like: “I don’t give a shit if they have guns”. She claimed to have heard these words from him shortly before his speech. When a president makes a speech, security personnel require those present to pass through metal detectors.
Giuliani is said to have spoken of a “great” day
According to her own statements, the 25-year-old was a Meadows employee that day and in the weeks before at the White House during key discussions between Meadows, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others. Meadows told her ahead of time that it could be “very, very bad,” Hutchinson said. Giuliani, on the other hand, spoke of a “great day” and said: “We’re going to the Capitol”.
Trump also requested that he be taken to the seat of Congress after his speech in front of thousands of supporters on the ellipse behind the White House. There, his supporters wanted to storm a meeting at which the election victory of Trump’s opponent Joe Biden was to be formally confirmed.
At the rally on January 6, Trump had previously incited his supporters that his election victory had been stolen. He also said publicly at the time that he too would come to the Capitol. As a result, there were several reports that Trump actually wanted to get there – but so far no confirmation from Trump’s leadership circle at the time.
Angry because he couldn’t get to the Capitol
During the rally – immediately before his supporters violently stormed the Capitol – Trump still assumed that he would personally drive to the Capitol, Hutchinson continued. 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 responsible Secret Service official immediately after the incident, Hutchinson described that Trump even tried to grab the driver’s steering wheel in the armored SUV. 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 and, Hutchinson said, “I am told he grabbed the Secret Service man’s throat.”
She didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do at the Capitol, Hutchinson said. But there was talk that he wanted to get into the chamber of the House of Representatives. There had previously been considerations that Trump might give another speech in front of the Capitol, Hutchinson said.
‘Disgusted’ by Trump’s comments about Pence
His supporters rioted there after smashing windows and doors, threatening to hang Democratic leaders and Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to hold back confirmation of Biden’s election victory. Five people died in the riots. Four police officers who were on duty that day later committed suicide. The attack on the heart of US democracy shook the country.
Hutchinson also called Trump’s attacks on his former deputy Mike Pence “unpatriotic”. She said, citing Meadows, that Trump believed Pence deserved the attacks against him. Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney made similar comments at a previous hearing. According to the Republican, Trump is said to have spoken positively about efforts to hang his vice president. Hutchinson was “disgusted” by all of this, she said. “It was unpatriotic, it was un-American. We watched the Capitol being defaced because of a lie,” she said.
Broken plates and ketchup on the wall
Hutchinson also recounted another incident about a month earlier, when she heard noise coming from a room in the White House and then saw there was a broken plate on the floor and ketchup dripping from the wall. President Trump threw his food against the wall in anger at a statement by then-Attorney General William Barr that his department had found no evidence of voter fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election. She was told to stay away from Trump that day, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson had been summoned as a surprise witness. At a previous hearing, she was already in the focus – but at that time only videos of her statements were shown. “I want all Americans to know that what Ms. Hutchinson did today is not easy,” Republican Cheney said, having taken over the questioning of the witness. “The easy way is to hide from the limelight, refuse to come forward and try to downplay or deny what happened.” In the past few weeks, former employees and members of the government have repeatedly testified and heavily incriminated Trump.
The investigative committee wants to show that after losing the election, Trump never intended to hand over power peacefully. Only the Ministry of Justice can decide whether an investigation will be carried out against the president who has been voted out, whether there is sufficient evidence.