"I'M THE FUCKING PRESIDENT! TAKE ME UP TO THE CAPITOL NOW!"Trump Schemed To Lead An Armed Attack On The Capitol, To Overthrow The Government; He Wanted His Vice President Murdered; When Thwarted, He Tried, In A Fury, To Take Control Of The Presidential Limo And Moved To Strangle A Secret Service Agent

(theatlantic.com)

Tuesday, June 28, was a day unlike any other in United States history, as the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol heard nearly an hour of jaw-dropping testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, the 26-year-old aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

CNN's Jake Tapper described it as "one of the most stunning offerings of testimony in American history". Also: "shocking", "obscene" and "worse than we ever imagined". A CNN lawyer stated there was clear and unambiguous evidence that Donald Trump committed numerous "premeditated" criminal acts ("These are the actions of a tyrant.") The lawyer believed Trump will face a "long" list of criminal charges. If so, he would be the first president in United States history to be charged with a crime following his departure from office. (He is already the only US president to be impeached twice.)

Seth Abramson, a best-selling author of three books detailing numerous crimes committed by Trump while in office, a former criminal defense attoney for 15 years, and owner of the Proof substack, was live-tweeting Hutchinson's testimony:

"I'M THE FUCKING PRESIDENT! TAKE ME UP TO THE CAPITOL NOW!" Trump yelled at the Secret Service *and tried to grab the steering wheel* and then *physically attacked the Secret Service* to try to stop them from taking him to the White House. I *swear* I am not making this up. This is literally the most batshit thing I have ever heard uttered by any witness under oath in any case I have ever seen. And it is clearly 100% true and corroborated.

Five minutes later, he called it quite possibly "the most stunning public hearing in American history":

Honestly some watching this hearing will think that a warrant for Trump's arrest should be issued *today*. And no one could blame them. At all. . . . "Arrest Trump" is now trending on Twitter . . . If you watched what I just watched, you *do* think Trump that must be arrested now. Today. Without any delay other than the securing of a properly signed federal arrest warrant.

Also: The only reason Trump made any statement against the attack (on January 7) was because he did not want to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment.

Denver Riggleman, a former Republican Congressman and former advisor to the January 6 Committee, said: "I don't think the American public has seen anything yet." There has been, for example, no public testimony about the detailed, months-long planning schemes with various racist miltia groups. Riggleman called Hutchinson "the bridge" to more damning information that will be coming out in the future.

The Reporting

Wajahat Ali, The Daily Beast, June 28, 2022:

In her damning and chilling testimony on Tuesday, Hutchinson, a former top aide to Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, unleashed an arsenal of smoking guns. She not only implicated the Trump administration but exposed the entire right-wing ecosystem as active and willing participants in a failed authoritarian’s desire to use violence, intimidation, and illegality to ensure power for his radicalized MAGA movement that has now consumed the GOP and replaced all "rational" Republicans.

According to Hutchinson, the Trump administration knew the protesters were heavily armed, but Trump cared more about his crowd size. Indeed, she said, Trump embraced and welcomed his own personal army. "I don't fucking care that they have weapons," was Trump's response, according to Hutchinson. "They're not here to hurt me. Take the fucking [metal detectors] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here." These are the same protesters who the Republican National Committee earlier this year said were "ordinary citizens" engaged in a "legitimate political discourse." . . .

A November PRRI poll revealed that a third of Republicans believe violence might be necessary "in order to save the country." One of the most terrifying moments from this hearing was a video of Gen. Michael Flynn pleading the Fifth when asked under oath whether he believes violence on Jan. 6 was justified. He said that after pondering the question with his attorney for over a minute. He further declined to say whether he believes in the peaceful transfer of power. 

Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, June 28, 2022:

Never in American history has there been a portrayal of a president so unfit for office or so willing to betray his oath in a desperate bid to retain power. Never have so many people in such positions of immense authority stayed so shamefully silent for so long about the horrifying behavior they witnessed, on Jan. 6, 2021, and before. . . .

In an administration of enablers, in a crowd of sycophants unwilling even now to stand up to Donald Trump and speak publicly about his unhinged conduct, Cassidy Hutchinson, former assistant to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, emerged from obscurity Tuesday, an unlikely — and lonely — truth-teller.

Hutchinson was the perfect witness to testify to the dereliction of duty she observed in the final days of the Trump White House, a Trump believer turned reluctant informant. Her GOP bona fides, including internships for House Republican whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), could not have been more impeccable, nor her demeanor — calm and sorrowful — more convincing. . . .

[H]er breaking point arrived on Jan. 6 — and in the end, she was willing to abandon the code of complicit silence that still prevails among too many of her former colleagues. . . .

"I remember feeling frustrated and disappointed, and really it felt personal. I was really sad," Hutchinson told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. "As an American I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie."

Carl Hulse, New York Times, June 28, 2022:

Mr. Trump was prone to rage as his attempts to get the election results overturned fell on deaf ears in his administration.

Upon learning on Dec. 1 that Attorney General William P. Barr had publicly declared the allegations of widespread voter fraud unfounded, Ms. Hutchinson said Trump slammed his lunch against a wall in his dining room in the White House, as she learned from the valet who cleaned up the broken china and ketchup dripping down the wall.

"There were several times throughout my tenure with the chief of staff that I was aware of him either throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go on to the floor and likely break or go everywhere," she said of the president.

Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, June 28, 2022:

Hutchinson testified that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was giddy about Jan. 6 leading up to the day. Giuliani told her that "we are going to the Capitol." When Hutchinson asked Meadows about the conversation, he replied, "There's a lot going on, Cass, but I don't know. Things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6."

Hutchinson also said that even the president's director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, wanted nothing to do with the White House's post-election scheme. She confirmed that Meadows and other officials were aware of the potential for violence. Even on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Meadows was informed about armed protesters. Then-deputy White House chief of staff Tony Ornato told Trump about weapons present at the rally on the morning of the insurrection, a stunning confirmation that Trump knew of danger.

Hutchinson's testimony suggested that Meadows was utterly indifferent to reports of potential violence. Meanwhile, Trump was furious that the Ellipse outside the White House, where the rally took place, was not filled with people. He demanded that attendees be allowed to go through the security checks with their weapons. Hutchinson testified that Trump said, "I don't f---ing care that they have weapons. Let my people go. They're not here to hurt me." [There were numerous police reports of men with AR-15s in the mob.]

David A. Graham, The Atlantic, June 28, 2022:

That is the most damning moment to emerge from the hearings so far. Trump's supporters' defense of the president's behavior that day up until now has been that he simply wanted a peaceful demonstration, and didn't anticipate the violence that broke out when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Some allies have denied that demonstrators were even armed. The defense has never been especially plausible, but Hutchinson's testimony demolishes it.

Her account establishes that Trump knew the crowd was armed and understood they were there to threaten or harm someone—specifically, his opponents—and that he wanted them to march on the Capitol with those weapons. Once the rioters had begun to approach the Capitol, Trump refused to lift a finger to stop the violence. When the top White House lawyer told Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that the president had to act, Meadows replied, according to Hutchinson, "He doesn't want to do anything." Later, when rioters chanted that Pence should be hanged, Hutchinson recalled, Meadows told the same lawyer, "He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong."

Matt Fuller, The Daily Beast, June 28, 2022:

Hutchinson testified that a number of lines Trump wanted included in his Jan. 6 speech were flagged and ultimately deleted by the White House Counsel's office. Hutchinson said some of those phrases were things like "'fight for Trump,' 'we're going to march to the Capitol,' 'fight for what we're doing,' 'fight for the movement.'"

She added that there were lines about the vice president as well that were flagged and deleted. [Trump went off script and said some of them anyway.]

Jeremy Stahl, Slate, June 28, 2022:

Trump requested that the magnetometers [metal detectors] be removed from the entrance to his rally, even though the president was told his supporters had been found carrying weapons, such as [AR-15s and] flagpoles being fastened with spears.

I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, "I don't even care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take the f-ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the f-ing mags away."

Hutchinson further explained that Trump was "fucking furious"—as she put it in a text at the time—because he wanted the space for his rally "to be maxed out at capacity for all attendees." In tape from her previous deposition, she said he was concerned about "the photograph that we would get because the rally space wasn't full," and that "he was angry that we weren't letting people through the mags with weapons."

Amanda Marcotte, Salon, June 28, 2022:

Hutchinson had more to tell, and the main takeaway is so wild it would be hard to believe if it were any other president. Trump's vision for January 6 was that he would be a general in an ill-fitting suit, standing before Congress with an army of armed red hats behind him, telling the legislature to give him the White House or else. But let's face it: because it's Trump it's all too easy to believe. This is the same clown who dramatically pulled his mask off from the White House balcony like he was tearing down an enemy flag when he returned from the hospital from COVID-19. The same man who marched through a tear-gas-cleared Lafayette Park flanked by a battalion of security to wave a Bible around in the posture of some imaginary Christian soldier. We've endured enough of Trump's reality TV-informed flair for cheesy drama. At this point, it would be more of a surprise to find out he didn't want to pull off a knock-off remake of Mussolini's march on Rome on Jan. 6.

The corniness of Trump's fascist aesthetic is weird, but it's important not to lose sight of the most important takeaway of Hutchinson's testimony: There was a mind-meld between Trump and his minions who stormed the Capitol on January 6, based largely on their shared enthusiasm for violence.

As Hutchinson laid out, Trump was not only aware that many in the rally crowd were heavily armed, he seemed to be counting on it. He got angry with the Secret Service for not letting people with AR-15s and body armor clamor to his side during the rally . . . He demanded that the armed thugs that support him "march to the Capitol from here."

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, Washington Post, June 28, 2022:

But on the morning of the insurrection, Hutchinson testified, Cipollone urged her to prevent Trump from going to the Capitol building with the growing, seething crowd of protesters he had assembled nearby. Hutchinson described the scene this way:

Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, "Please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy. Keep in touch with me. We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen."

Keep in mind that one of Cipollone's jobs as White House counsel was to keep people who work in the White House, including the president, from committing crimes — something that, according to Hutchinson, he was clearly worried about.

Notably, Cipollone's fear intensified as Jan. 6 wore on. Hutchinson testified that as the riot spun out of control, Cipollone came "barreling down the hallway towards our office" to tell Meadows they had to talk to the president. She continued:

And Mark looked up and said, "He doesn't want to do anything, Pat." Cipollone then replied, "Mark, something needs to be done or people are going to die and the blood is going to be on your f---ing hands. This is getting out of control. I'm going down there."

. . . What's critical here is that Trump and his advisers have never conceded that the mob assault on the Capitol was in any way connected to his efforts to procedurally overturn the election (which they don't concede was criminal or wrong either, but put that aside for now).

Yet Cipollone clearly seemed to see Trump's manipulation of the mob as directly linked to the president's efforts to subvert the electoral count, which Cipollone seemed to see as potential criminality.

"This was what was so devastating about today," Eliason says, noting that Tuesday's hearing provided the most direct evidence yet tying Trump's machinations "directly to the mob and the violence." Neal Katyal, a former U.S. solicitor general, notes that when Hutchinson testified that Trump expressly wanted supporters carrying weapons let in to the rally on the Ellipse, that might have also pointed to legal vulnerability.

"The picture painted today is one of Trump assisting with an insurrection," Katyal told us, noting that this could implicate the federal statute against rebellion or insurrection, or lending aid and comfort to either. . . .

Trump refused to call off the mob for more than three hours, helping lead to horrifying destruction and death, apparently as part of a broader effort to disrupt the election's conclusion. "The failure to try to stop it, and the encouraging of it, is further evidence of the overall conspiracy to obstruct," Eliason said.

"He sat on his hands during the three hours of the attack, giving massive assistance to the insurrectionists storming the capitol," Katyal added.

And keep this in mind: the Jan. 6 committee vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), concluded by saying that during the next hearings, the committee will detail still more about what Trump did while the violence raged. Things will get worse for Trump.

Amanda Carpenter, The Bulwark, June 28, 2022:

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone warned Hutchinson that if staff allowed [Trump] to lead the mob to the Capitol, "We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen."

Hutchinson said then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato told her that Robert Engel, then the head of Trump's Secret Service detail, refused to take Trump to the Capitol. When Engel refused, Trump said, "I'm the f'ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now." Then, Trump "reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel." She said Ornato told her that Trump used his free hand to "lunge" at Engel. In recounting this story to Hutchinson (in the presence of Engel), Ornato gestured toward to his throat to indicate a physical attack.

Trump steadfastly refused to condemn the attack. Instead, he wanted to make a speech defending the rioters, raising his willingness to pardon them, and issue further attacks on then-Vice President Mike Pence. (Which is exactly what Trump is doing in speeches now.)

Kyle Cheney, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu, Politico, June 28, 2022:

The former White House aide's remarks portrayed Trump as spiraling into an increasingly manic rage as he continued his last-ditch effort to seize a second term he didn't win. Hutchinson offered some of the gravest evidence yet of Trump's awareness of the violent elements within his base that were ultimately unleashed against Congress — and his indifference to the ultimate result. . . .

Signs of Trump's fury had been emerging for weeks, Hutchinson said, recalling that Trump once hurled a plate of food at the wall after his Justice Department batted down claims of widespread election fraud.

Hutchinson's comments came in an explosive public hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee . . . Her knowledge, informed by being present in nearly every meeting involving Meadows during the post-election period, have quickly propelled Hutchinson into a prominent role for Capitol riot investigators. . . .

She described an eerily nonchalant reaction by Meadows as he learned details of the escalating violence at the Capitol.

"I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone," Hutchinson recalled.

And she further testified to the panel that Meadows raised concerns 100 hours before a violent mob stormed the Capitol . . .

"Things might get real, real bad," Hutchinson recalled Meadows telling her on Jan. 2, 2021. . . .

Another conversation she relayed to the panel, with then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, honed in on his growing fear that Trump's effort to overturn the election could destabilize the country.

"He had expressed to me that he was concerned that it could spiral out of control and potentially be dangerous either for our democracy or the way that things were going for the 6th," Hutchinson said.

Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, June 28, 2022:

Hutchinson testified that Giuliani and Meadows both requested pardons from Trump after the insurrection. This follows revelations from the committee last week that a number of Republican members of Congress also sought pardons. Any prosecutor would use this as evidence of guilt.

Hutchinson's appearance before the committee placed a spotlight on the list of Trump aides who have refused to come forward with their eyewitness testimony, including Meadows, Ornato, Cipollone and others. In fact, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the committee, read statements from unnamed witnesses that they had been warned by others to be "loyal" to Trump, suggesting the possibility of witness tampering.

Amanda Carpenter, The Bulwark, June 28, 2022:

At the end of the hearing, Cheney said the committee had evidence of witness tampering and further acts of intimidation from "Trump World."

Cheney said that as a matter of routine, the committee asks witnesses if they have been contacted by former colleagues or anyone else who may attempt to influence their testimony. Although she refrained from naming the witnesses, Cheney said that two people connected to the White House told the committee the following in response to those questions. She read their statements directly into the record. . . .

The most horrifying aspect of these revelations is that the 26-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson isn't the only one who knows all of this. Yet out of all the president's aides—a collection of well-established lawyers, people with fat media contracts, and military men with pensions—she's the one who was willing to testify under oath about it. . . .

Where is her former boss, Mark Meadows? Is he still praying for a pardon?

Where is Mike Pence? He's happy to tell everyone about how well he performed his patriotic duty on Jan. 6th. Except for the actual Jan. 6th Committee. . . .

What about the other cabinet members—the ones who privately talked about invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to remove Trump because they knew how unhinged the president was? Shouldn't they put their experiences on the record? . . .

If only these great Republican personages could be as patriotic as the young staffer they once ordered around.

Jon Skolnik, Salon, June 28, 2022:

Donald Trump called Cassidy Hutchinson, the surprise witness in Tuesday's January 6 hearing, a "phony" after she delivered unprecedented testimony that the former president knew the Capitol riot could turn violent but did nothing to stop it.

"I hardly know who this person is … other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and a 'leaker')," Trump wrote over Truth Social, his social media platform. "She is bad news!"

Travis Gettys, Salon, June 28, 2022:

Donald Trump's one-time chief of staff Mick Mulvaney vouched for the "explosive" testimony provided by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

Mulvaney, who served as Trump's chief of staff before Mark Meadows and as White House director of management and budget, said he believed Hutchinson's testimony, and said that other officials she discussed should testify themselves.

"My guess is that before this is over, we will be hearing testimony from Ornato, Engle, and Meadows," Mulvaney tweeted, after Hutchinson described Trump physically attacking his Secret Service detail on Jan. 6. "This is explosive stuff." . . .

Mulvaney was referring to deputy White House chief of staff Tony Ornato and Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent Trump allegedly attacked for refusing to take him to the Capitol in his armored car. . . .

"I know her. I don't think she is lying."

David A. Graham, The Atlantic, June 28, 2022:

Some of Trump's defenders will, of course, seek to explain Hutchinson's testimony away and apologize for him. They will contend that if the president wasn't heard explicitly saying, I want a violent mob to topple Congress, harm members, and overturn the election that I lost, he cannot be held responsible for what happened that day. This is nonsense. If you pour gasoline all over a building, tell some people it is essential the building burn, and make sure they're carrying matches and lighters, you are to blame for the arson that follows—especially if you then decline to call the fire department and condone the inferno. What Trump wanted to put up in flames on January 6 was American democracy.

Entire June 28, 2022 Hearing

MSNBC: 'Unhinged' Trump Exposed! Shock Testimony On Agents Grabbed, Warning For 'Every Crime Imaginable'

MSNBC: Why Mary Trump Isn't Shocked By Damning January 6th Testimony

MSNBC: Indictment? Trump Linked To Armed Violence By Star WH Witness

MSNBC: Trump Embraced Armed Rally Attendees; Sought To Join Them In March: Jan. 6 Hearing Witness

CNN: 'Devastating': Woodward Calls Jan. 6 Testimony Trump's 'Political Obituary'