The explosive testimony delivered Tuesday by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has driven a rift through alumni of former President Donald Trump’s team.
Hutchinson, who served as an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, outlined to the Jan. 6 select committee a pattern of concerning, erratic behavior by Trump and some of his closest advisers on and in the lead-up to the day of the Capitol riot.
The Washington Examiner spoke to more than a dozen former Trump administration staffers, including a number who were still serving in the White House on Jan. 6, about Hutchinson’s testimony, many of whom pushed back on parts of her story.
FORMER WHITE HOUSE LAWYER CLAIMS HUTCHINSON DID NOT WRITE NOTE TO TRUMP ON JAN. 6: REPORT
Ben Williamson, another Meadows adviser and former senior Trump communications official who privately testified before the committee, specifically denied Hutchinson’s claims that Meadows did not press Trump to call on rioters to protest peacefully.
“I’ve worked for Mark Meadows for seven years — any suggestion he didn’t care is ludicrous,” he said in a statement. “If the committee actually wanted answers as to that question, they could’ve played my interview where I outlined to them how Meadows immediately acted when I told him of initial violence at the Capitol that day. They seem more interested in hearsay, speculation, and conjecture as a means of smearing people, and it’s obvious why.”
Two former Trump White House officials denied that Meadows pressed Trump for a pardon. Both acknowledged past reports of Meadows being included on a “blanket pardon” draft that was circulated throughout the White House between Jan. 6 and Jan. 20 but stressed that Meadows himself was not involved in the drafting of that list.
Four Trump White House officials, all of whom spent time in the West Wing on Jan. 6, say they would have heard “rumors” regarding the “outrageous” accusations Hutchinson made about Trump and his Secret Service detail.
Two former Trump officials suggested that Hutchinson was a junior staffer and would not have had the level of access to Meadows, Trump, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to have heard the alleged conversations she discussed before the committee.
Finally, nine of the Trump administration officials who spoke with the Washington Examiner claimed that Hutchinson sought a job in Trump’s Florida office after leaving the White House and viewed her testimony as revenge for being rebuffed.
Hutchinson directly accused the former president of knowingly allowing attendees at his speech to carry firearms at the Ellipse, presumably to bring them to the Capitol later, being physically aggressive with two members of his Secret Service detail, and throwing a plate of food at a wall in the White House, among other things.
She additionally portrayed Meadows, Cipollone, and Giuliani as being aware the Jan. 6 protesters would march to the Capitol and could resort to violence days before the riot took place. She claimed Meadows was apathetic as rioting broke out at the Capitol and that both Meadows and Giuliani raised to Trump potential pardons for their involvement.
Hutchinson relayed to the committee firsthand and secondhand accounts of what transpired on Jan. 6, and it’s worth noting that the Secret Service has already publicly denied parts of her testimony, specifically involving the alleged physical altercation between Trump and his security detail, and put forward agents to testify.
Still, nearly as many Trump alumni view her revelations as especially damning to the former president and his allies.
One such official suggested to the Washington Examiner that Hutchinson put a “permanent black mark” on Trump’s record.
“This ultimately shows how wholly unfit for office he truly was,” that person continued. “No one that unhinged should be allowed anywhere near power in this country.”
Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, called Hutchinson’s testimony a “stunning two hours.”
“The real bomb that got dropped was the implied charge of witness tampering,” he tweeted Tuesday. “If there is hard evidence, that is a serious problem for the former President.”
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“I’m in awe of Cassidy’s bravery & integrity,” former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin added. “On the other, I expect to be disappointed by GOP leaders in power who will offer quotes against Trump on background, but continue to line up dutifully behind him publicly. Her honor is in tact, their dishonor remains.”
