The latest hearing for the House Select Committee investigating Jan.6 was the biggest one yet, with surprise testimony from former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson that contained explosive, never-before-revealed allegations. They were so over-the-top that they almost seem unreal. Donald Trump has already had a meltdown over it, predictably asserting that she spread “fake news” and calling her things like “A Total Phony.”
But another person from deep within the former president’s orbit is giving her the benefit of the doubt. That person is Mick Mulvaney, who served as his chief of staff from early 2019 through spring of 2020, and special envoy for Northern Ireland until the Capitol riot, when he was one of a number of staffers who quit in disgust. After Hutchinson, who had firsthand accounts of many of the events of that fateful day, gave her testimony, Mulvaney said he thought she was on the level.
My guess is that before this is over, we will be hearing testimony from Ornato, Engle, and Meadows.
This is explosive stuff. If Cassidy is making this up, they will need to say that. If she isn’t they will have to corroborate.
I know her. I don’t think she is lying.
— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) June 28, 2022
“If Cassidy is making this up, they will need to say that. If she isn’t they will have to corroborate,” Mulvaney wrote. “I know her. I don’t think she is lying.”
Mulvaney also speculated that the committee would likely feature testimony from former White House chief of operations Anthony M. Ornato, who Hutchinson said warned Meadows that the visiting Trump supporters would likely be armed; Secret Service Special Agent Bobby Engel, whom Trump allegedly tried to choke; and Meadows himself.
Among the claims in Hutchinson’s testimony were that Trump knew his supporters were packing but didn’t care because “they’re not here to hurt me,” that he wanted to join the mob at the Capitol but wasn’t allowed to (prompting his attack on the Secret Service agent), that he got so mad that he threw his ketchup-heavy lunch against a wall, and more.
Back in April, two months before the hearings began, and when Trump was still widely seen as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in 2024, Mulvaney offered a “short list” of people who could unseat him. One was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Another was Trump himself, who’s “sometimes his own worst enemy.” He may have already been proven right about that last one.
(Via HuffPost)