On Tuesday, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, testified before the House select committee about the events leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The select committee said it would be holding a last-minute hearing to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.
In the past two weeks, the panel has held five public hearings in which they outlined the findings of their investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee was going to take a break after the last hearing in order to hear more testimony and look at new evidence.
The vice chair of the committee, Liz Cheney, took the lead in questioning and presenting clips of earlier depositions given by Hutchinson, who was serving as a top aide to Trump's chief of staff.
Trump wanted his supporters to have guns.
A scene that took place backstage at Trump's rally on the Ellipse just a few moments before he delivered his speech was described by Hutchinson.
She said that he was angry about the extra space and wanted more people to come in.
She said that he was angry that people weren't being allowed to bring weapons to the rally, and that he wanted it full.
According to Hutchinson, Trump was told that many of his supporters were going to listen to the speech outside because they didn't want to have their weapons taken away.
The president said something to the effect that they were not here to hurt him. The people could march to the Capitol from here.
Trump responded to the charge in real time on his social media platform.
He didn't complain about the crowd. People with guns should not be allowed to watch my speech. Who would like that? It's not me!
We're going to be charged with everything.
Hutchinson testified that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone expressed concern about Trump wanting to join his supporters in marching to the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify the election results. There are serious legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day.
Hutchinson talked about that conversation in a video clip from an earlier interview.
She said that Cipollone was worried that it would look like we were inciting a riot at the Capitol.
Hutchinson said that Cipollone pressed her to make sure they didn't go to the Capitol on the morning of January 6th.
Hutchinson was told by Cipollone that they would be charged with every crime if they made that movement happen.
When he was told it wasn't safe to go to the Capitol, Trump grabbed the wheel of his car.
According to Tuesday's testimony, Trump was determined to go to the Capitol after his speech, despite Cipollone's concerns. The situation at the Capitol was deemed unsafe for Trump by his security team. He didn't hear it.
The head of Donald Trump's Secret Service detail and a senior Secret Service agent ran into Hutchinson after she returned to the White House.
Did you know what happened in the beast? Hutchinson said Ornato asked her about Trump's vehicle. She said Ornato told her that when Trump got into the vehicle after his speech, he was told that the trip to the Capitol wouldn't happen.
Hutchinson said that Tony described him as being angry. The president told him to take him up to the Capitol.
According to Hutchinson, Ornato told her that the president reached up to grab the steering wheel and that the man had to get his hand off the wheel.
Hutchinson said that Ornato motioned to his clavicle when he told the story and that Mr. Engel did not agree with any part of the story.
She testified that this was not the first time that she had seen Trump have a violent rant.
Hutchinson said he was aware of the chief of staff throwing dishes or a table cloth to let the contents of the table go on the floor. On Dec. 1, 2020, after Trump learned that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election, she recalled an incident.
Hutchinson said she walked into the White House dining room after hearing a noise and saw the White House valet cleaning up.
There was a broken porcelain plate when Hutchinson first noticed it. The president threw his lunch against the wall because he was upset with the attorney general.
The two men sought pardons from the former president.
According to Hutchinson, Trump and Giuliani sought pardons in the wake of Jan. 6. She said that Trump wanted to include a line about possibly pardoning the rioters.
At an earlier hearing last week, the committee played part of one of Hutchinson's taped depositions in which she named several Republican members of Congress who tried to get pardons from the White House.
It's time for Mark to get out of it.
Hutchinson portrayedMeadows as the epitome of Trump's worst instincts, as well as being checked out and unconcerned.
On January 2nd, Hutchinson told her that things could get real, real bad, but she didn't pay much attention to it. When he was first told about the Capitol violence, Hutchinson said thatMeadows was unperturbed.
When she tried to talk to him about the violent scene unfolding on TV in front of him, he stared at his phone.
The rioters are closing in. She asked the man if he had talked to the President. She said he didn't look up from his phone.
Hutchinson told the committee that he got frustrated. I felt like I was watching a bad car accident where you can't stop it but you want to be able to do something I remember thinking that Mark needed to get out of it. I don't know how to get him out of it.
There is evidence of tampering with witnesses.
At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Cheney raised concerns about witness tampering to discourage other former White House and Trump campaign staffers from coming forward. Two examples of calls and other messages were provided to the committee by her. One witness said the message told them to be a team player and that Trump was thinking about them. You are loyal to him.
The committee used clips of earlier taped depositions to supplement Hutchinson's testimony on Tuesday. Several witnesses, including former White House and Trump campaign aide Max Miller, former Trump bodyguard Nick Luna, and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, appeared on video during the hearing.
Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, invoked the Fifth Amendment when he was asked if he thought the violence was justified.
The committee is expected to take a break now that it has received new evidence. Next month is when the hearings are expected to resume.
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