Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham decried testimony from a former Trump White House aide during the hastily scheduled Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday, claiming the witness was not credible and could not be taken seriously.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an assistant to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, appeared before the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday when she gave revelatory testimony about events leading up to and during the Capitol riot. During one part of her testimony, Hutchinson described herself as being “disgusted” by former President Donald Trump’s refusal to condemn threats against Vice President Mike Pence, which she described as “unpatriotic” and “un-American.”
SIX NOTABLE MOMENTS FROM HOUSE JAN. 6 HEARING FEATURING EX-TRUMP AIDE HUTCHINSON
During his show on Fox News hours later, Hannity said Hutchinson’s testimony featured “hearsay” and suggested the witness had questionable motives.
“What you heard there is an incredibly bizarre hearsay allegation from a person who, according to our sources, wanted to work for Donald Trump outside the White House when he wasn’t president at Mar-a-Lago, and, according to people I talked to tonight … others advised the former president not to hire her,” Hannity said. “In other words, according to the Federalist and people I talked to, after Jan. 6, she wanted to work for Donald Trump — that bad person she’s now testifying against.”
Ingraham echoed similar sentiments, arguing Hutchinson’s testimony was being used by Democrats as a “distraction” ahead of the midterm elections. The Fox News host also cited conversations she had with other White House staffers who worked closely with Hutchinson, raising questions about whether the former Meadows aide’s testimony was credible.
“I spoke with some former White House staffers, three or four of them, in the afternoon, and they knew her well. And not one person had anything good to say about her performance today because they watched,” Ingraham said, “especially these secondhand claims supposedly from Tony Ornato, another Trump aide, that was supposedly one of [the committee’s] big blockbusters,” she added.
Ingraham: And I spoke with some former white house staffers, three, four of them and they knew her well. And not one person had anything good to say about her performance today. pic.twitter.com/9FFkZSVEKC
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 29, 2022
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During the hearing, Hutchinson said she heard from Ornato how Trump got agitated when, after delivering a speech on Jan. 6, he was told during the drive back to the White House that going to the Capitol was not an option. Among the claims Hutchinson relayed was that Trump grabbed the steering wheel of the vehicle and lunged at the head of his security detail. Trump reacted on Truth Social, calling it a “fake story,” and there have been reports that people involved in the story about the chaotic drive on Jan. 6 are prepared to push back on it.
Hannity’s and Ingraham’s text messages to Meadows on Jan. 6, urging him to tell the former president to instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol during the attack, were read during the hearing on Tuesday.
