By Todd Lassa
UPDATE: The 1/6 House Select panel has subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone in the wake of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, below...
Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows requested pardons from then-President Trump on January 7, 2021. Former White House Counsel Pat Cipolonne tried to warn Meadows to keep Trump from joining his followers to the Capitol January 6 or face legal charges, including obstruction of justice and defrauding the electoral count.
Cassidy Hutchinson’s knowledge of the January 6 “rally” began with a January 2 visit by Giuliani to the White House, the former aide to Chief of Staff Meadows (Trump’s fourth), told the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6thAttack on the United States Capitol Tuesday afternoon.
“Gosh, are you excited for the 6th?” Hutchinson recalled Giuliani asking. “It’s going to be a great day.”
Great indeed, for fans of political intrigue involving banana republics. When Hutchinson asked Giuliani what he meant, the reply was that Donald J. Trump was going to the Capitol that day, and “he’s going to look very strong.”
When Meadows later told Hutchinson how serious the rally could be, it was the “first moment I remember feeling scared and concerned for what could happen on January 6.”
She advised Meadows to avoid a January 5 planning meeting at the Willard Hotel with Giuliani, John Eastman and others. Meadows later told her he would “dial in” instead.
Hutchinson joined the White House contingent to the Elipse the morning of January 6, standing in the back of President Trump’s tent set up for his speech. Trump supporters had to pass through Secret Service magnetometers (“mags”) to see the speech, and their weapons kept many of them out. There had been reports of members of the rally mob carrying guns, including, as panel Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) noted, a man with a gun in a tree on the east side of Constitution Avenue, and others with AR-15s at 14th Street and Independence Avenue.
Trump was “very concerned” that photos of the Elipse crowd did not look full “and he thought the mags were at fault, not letting people in with weapons.” (Consistent, at least, considering Trump’s insistence that his 2017 inauguration crowd was “biggest in history.”)
The armed mob was not there to hurt Trump, the president said; “let the people in, take the effing mags away.”
After Trump’s speech, he still had planned to take the “Beast” – or rather an armored Chevrolet Suburban daily driver – to the Capitol to join his armed supporters. But his deputy chief of staff for security detail, Tony Ornato, and White House staff resisted because it would not be secure.
“It was becoming clear to us and [the Secret Service] that Capitol security were being overrun and were short of people to secure the Capitol,” Hutchinson said.
What happened next is well-detailed in both the left and right columns. Suffice to say the Secret Service prevailed, though not uninjured, on this one.
Back at the White House, Hutchinson told Meadows at 2:05 p.m. that rioters were getting close to the Capitol, she testified by video. “Do we want to talk to the president?
“He said ‘no, he wants to be alone.’”
The 1/6 panel outlined a series of text messages and calls from the likes of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Fox News commentators Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, who tried to get Trump to call off the riot mid-afternoon, before he wrote a tepid tweet at 4:17 p.m. telling the mob they’re “special” and “loved.”
Hutchinson heard Trump watching chants of “Hang Mike Pence” on television in the White House dining room, where she delivered a text message from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to Meadows. There, she heard Meadows say to Cipolonne; “You heard him, Pat, he thinks the vice president deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”
What, Cheney asked, was Hutchinson’s reaction to this day’s events?
“As a staffer that worked to always represent the president to the best of my ability and to always showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really, it felt personal. It was really sad."
In her closing remarks Tuesday, Cheney said the 1/6 panel has evidence of witness intimidation by a former colleague or colleagues attempting to influence testimony. She produced two emails, with the sender(s) and recipient(s) redacted. Expect to learn more in Hearing VII next month.