Donald Trump knew some of his supporters were armed when he called on them to march on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 and then sought to drive a limo to join them, according to damning testimony delivered to Congress on Tuesday.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former collaborator of the White House, revealed before a parliamentary committee the specific actions and gestures of the former president during this day which shook American democracy.
According to this young woman, Donald Trump tried to take the wheel of a presidential limousine from a police officer of the secret services, in particular in charge of the protection of the American presidency, to mingle with his supporters who were marching towards Congress in an attempt to block certification of Joe Biden’s victory as the new president.
“Take Me to the Capitol”
“I’m the f**king president, take me to the Capitol right now,” he allegedly said, trying to grab the policeman by the collar, according to remarks reported to Cassidy Hutchinson by the president’s deputy chief of staff.
“Sir, you have to take your hand off the wheel, we are going back” to the White House, the policeman would have replied.
This young woman, who worked just a few steps from the Oval Office, also gave disturbing details about what the American executive knew of the violence that was preparing before the events of “January 6”.
Including a conversation she allegedly had with Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, four days before the attack on the US Congress. “It could get really, really bad on January 6,” he said.
“That evening, I remember feeling fear and dread for the first time about what could happen on January 6, 2021,” she said.
“Not here to hurt me”
On this cold day, thousands of supporters of Donald Trump gathered in Washington to denounce the result of the election which saw the Republican billionaire lose.
The parliamentary committee revealed on Tuesday that several people within this human tide were armed, information transmitted at the time to Donald Trump.
“I don’t give a fuck that they are armed, they are not here to hurt me,” reportedly replied the president a few minutes before inviting them to “walk to the Capitol,” said Ms. Hutchinson, who has distanced himself from the Trump nebula to the point of recently changing lawyers, before the parliamentary commission of inquiry.
For nearly a year, this commission has heard more than 1,000 witnesses, including two children of the former president, and combed through 140,000 documents to shed light on the precise maneuvers of Donald Trump before, during and after this event which shakes up American democracy.
Ketchup and porcelain
These nine elected officials – seven Democrats and two Republicans rejected by their party – accuse Donald Trump and his entourage of being at the heart of an “attempted coup”.
Supporting videos and testimonials, they detailed throughout the month of June the pressure exerted from all sides by the billionaire to stay in power, until the assault on the Capitol by his supporters.
The episode of the presidential limousine was not the only outburst of violence by Donald Trump during the period when he tried to overturn the election, according to testimony on Tuesday.
Cassidy Hutchinson also referred to the day of December 1, 2020, when US Secretary of Justice Bill Barr said in an interview that he had not seen enough “fraud” to invalidate Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The billionaire then allegedly threw a porcelain plate on the floor and threw ketchup on a wall in the White House, she said.
Donald Trump, who openly flirts with the idea of running for president in 2024, vehemently denounced all of his revelations.
“It’s twisted and wrong, just like all of the commission’s work,” he blasted on his social network, Truth Social.
His party, which he still controls with an iron fist, has already promised to bury the conclusions of this commission if he were to take control of the House of Representatives during the mid-term legislative elections. in November.