Former President Trump fired back at Tuesday's main witness in the Jan. 6 hearings even before Cassidy Hutchinson had finished her testimony. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump criticized the former aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, reports CNBC.
- "I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and 'leaker'), and when she requested to go with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office, I personally turned her request down," Trump posted, per the New York Post. "Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that she was very upset and angry that I didn’t want her to go, or be a member of the team. She is bad news!"
The Hill adds some context, pointing out that Trump "routinely claims not to be familiar with individuals who are critical of him, particularly when they were part of his administration." He did so during his impeachment proceedings in particular. Two assessments that differ from Trump's:
- Sarah Matthews, former White House deputy press secretary in the Trump administration, tweeted: "Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is."
- At the New York Times, Peter Baker writes that "Hutchinson’s testimony is powerful because it is precise, detailed, matter-of-fact and dispassionate—she is not accusatory or defensive, she does not come across as driven by anger or emotion, she is providing information in a straightforward way, what she saw, what she heard. It is not speculative or hypothetical. It is the account of someone in the room at the time."
(Hutchinson testified that an angry Trump
lunged for the steering wheel of the presidential limo on Jan. 6 and was
unconcerned about reports that protesters were armed.)
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