Cassidy Hutchinson, Mark Meadows’ chief aide when he was White House Chief of Staff at the time of the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress, told the House Select Committee looking into the event a number of jaw-dropping details coming from inside the White House. Some of the fun ones:
Hutchinson was reportedly pushed to testify because of threats made against her. Last night, after Hutchinson was disclosed to be the witness, Spartan and I had a brief exchange about her motivations for testifying live:
Turns out, we were both in the ballpark. As the committee showed, Trump and his minions were going all 1930s gangster with a baseball bat to a witness. “I hope nuthin’ happens to that nice family of yours.”
Having her testify live in a public hearing removes all threats to her: there’s no one who will benefit from her disappearance now. So quickly bringing her in made sense.
The other thing that works in favor of the Committee is that Hutchinson was a very compelling witness: she’s relatable as a relative newbie to the political scene at just 26 years old, and who’s mostly a witness to the action around her, not a bad actor herself.
So when she talks about the aftermath of Donald Trump having a food-throwing temper tantrum in the dining room off the Oval Office, it’s a completely believable account. It also helps that you, the reader, already understand Donald Trump is prone to temper tantrums.
That’s true of all the characters in this Bizarro America: Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani wanted pardons. Trump and Meadows knew armed people were in the crowd and pushed them down to the Capitol. Trump had no respect for his Secret Service detail. Why is Hutchinson so credible? Because the other characters are not.