WASHINGTON, DC — A former top
White House aide with unique access to Donald Trump and inner workings of the West Wing was
expected to testify publicly Tuesday before the committee probing the attack on
the US Capitol.
اضافة اعلان
Cassidy Hutchinson, an executive assistant to
Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, was a central figure in the White House
around the period of the insurrection on January 6 last year.
She has already been the source of several
blockbuster revelations, appearing in videotaped depositions at two previous
hearings and memorably naming a group of House Republicans who sought pardons
from Trump following the violence.
She was also in contact with officials in the
battleground state of Georgia, where Trump infamously pressured officials to
“find” enough votes to overcome Joe Biden’s victory margin in a phone call that
is the subject of a criminal probe.
Hutchinson testified behind closed doors in
February, March, and May, revealing she saw Meadows incinerate documents in his
office after meeting a Republican congressman implicated in the plot to
overturn the election.
The lawmaker, Scott Perry, was pivotal in Trump’s
failed effort to install his own pliant attorney general as part of a plan to
co-opt the Justice Department into his scheme to cling to power.
It was Hutchinson, according to CNN, who told the
select committee that Trump voiced approval for the “hang Mike Pence” chants
from rioters at the Capitol — an allegation that was among the many eye-popping
claims to come out of the opening hearing on June 9.
Hutchinson also testified that she remembered a
Secret Service agent informing Meadows of intelligence reports saying there
could potentially be violence on January 6.
‘Public spirit’
“I don’t know what Cassidy
Hutchinson will say today,” conservative political commentator Bill Kristol, a
founder of the advocacy group Defending Democracy Together, posted on Twitter.
“But by agreeing to step forward and testify under
oath, this young woman is showing far more public spirit, integrity and courage
than many of her well-established elders who have chosen a far easier and less
honorable path.”
Meadows himself has refused to testify before the
panel since handing over thousands of text messages and other documents in the
early stages of the investigation.
The
House of Representatives held Meadows in
contempt in December but the Justice Department decided not to charge him.
The announcement of Tuesday’s hearing with less than
24 hours’ notice raised eyebrows across Washington, since the committee had
said it was pushing the rest of its hearings to July and perhaps beyond.
The panel revealed the about-face in a brief release
which did not mention the purpose of the hearing or reveal who would appear,
simply saying it would “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness
testimony”.
The reason for the change of plan remained a mystery
hours ahead of Hutchison’s appearance, although US media reported she had
become more cooperative since changing lawyers earlier this month.
Congressional media outlet Punchbowl reported that
there had been “sincere concerns” about Hutchinson’s safety because of what she
knows and has already revealed.
The committee did not say if there would be more
than one witness and Washington insiders speculated that documentary filmmaker
Alex Holder’s footage of Trump and his family could also figure.
Meanwhile, Trump lawyer
John Eastman, the architect
of the former president’s scheme to overturn the election, revealed in a court
filing Monday that the FBI had seized his cell phone.
He said he was confronted by FBI agents as he was leaving a
restaurant and called for a judge to have his phone returned.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
