Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, burned papers so often after the 2020 election that it left his office smokey and even prompted his wife to complain that her clothes smelled like “bonfire” , according to a former employee of President Trump’s White House.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a key congressional witness against former President Trump before the House Jan. 6 committee, made the allegations in a new book to be released Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book Enough.
Mme Hutchinson was a White House staffer in her 20s who worked for Mr. Meadows and testified for two hours on national television about the inner workings of the White House leading up to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
MM. Trump and Meadows have attempted to challenge the former president’s election defeat in several states. Both are charged in Georgia in what prosecutors said was an illegal plot to overturn the results.
In his book, Mme Hutchinson writes that beginning in mid-December, Mr. Meadows wanted a fire burning in his office every morning. She said that when she entered his office to bring him lunch or a package, she “sometimes found him leaning over the fire, pushing papers in, watching to make sure they burned.”
Mme Hutchinson had previously testified before the House committee on January 6, saying she had seen Mr. Meadows burning documents in his office a dozen times.
She did not know what papers he burned, but said it raised questions because federal law regarding presidential records requires staff to preserve original documents and send them to the National Archives.
She said that one day, when Republican Representative Devin Nunes came to meet with Mr. Meadows, the congressman asked Ms. Hutchinson to open the office windows because there was smoke. She said she warned Mr. Meadows that he would set off a smoke detector.
Later, in the days after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, when Mr. Trump’s staffers began packing their bags to leave the White House, Mr.me Hutchinson claimed that Mr. Meadows’ wife arrived to help him and asked him to stop lighting Mr. Meadows’ fireplace because “all his clothes smelled like bonfires.”
A message seeking comment from Mark Meadows’ attorney went unanswered.
Mme Hutchinson also described in his book a moment on the morning of January 6 when former New York mayor and Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani allegedly groped him backstage as Mr. Trump spoke. to his supporters in Washington.
She said Mr. Giuliani slipped his hand under her blazer and skirt and ran his hand up her thigh after showing her a stack of documents related to his efforts to overturn the election.
Mr. Giuliani denied the allegation in an interview on Newsmax last week, calling it “absolutely false, totally absurd.”
“First of all, I’m not going to grope anyone at all. And second, in front of about 100 people? “, he said.