A former White House official told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Capitol Hill that President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was briefed on intelligence reports showing the potential for violence that day, according to transcripts released late Friday evening.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a special White House assistant to Mr. Trump, told the committee that “concerns were passed on” to Mr. Meadows before the riot, but it was unclear what Mr. Meadows made this information.
“I just remember that Mr. Ornato came and he said that we had information indicating that there could be violence on the 6th [janvier] said Cassidy Hutchinson, presumably referring to Anthony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official. Mr. Meadows would have been open to discussing it.
Friday’s filing also confirmed how some Republican members of Congress were deeply involved in White House talks about canceling the election in the months leading up to the deadly insurgency.
Ms Hutchinson described several calls that took place in late November and early December, involving Mr Meadows and far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus, during which participants discussed what the role of the Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, in addition to the ceremonial role he was to play.
According to Ms Hutchinson, on those calls were representatives of Mr Trump’s legal team, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, as well as Representatives Jim Jordan and Scott Perry.
The committee’s filing follows a lawsuit Mr. Meadows filed in December in federal court in Washington against the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The suit was asking a judge to invalidate two subpoenas that Mr Meadows had received from the committee, alleging they were “too broad and unduly burdensome”. The lawsuit then accused the committee of overstepping its bounds by issuing a subpoena to Verizon to obtain its cellphone records.
Shortly after the complaint was filed, the committee sent a contempt of Congress charge against Mark Meadows to the House floor, where it passed by a near unanimous vote. It was the first time the House had voted to convict a former member of contempt since the 1830s.
While a previous dismissal for contempt against former Mr Trump adviser Steve Bannon resulted in an impeachment, the Justice Department has been slower to decide whether to prosecute Mr Meadows.
The criminal case against Mark Meadows is more complex than that presented against Mr. Bannon, in part because Mr. Meadows had begun to cooperate with the committee, even providing documents to the nine-member panel.
Mr Meadows’ lawyer, George Terwilliger, has previously defended his client, noting that due to his willingness to hand over records he should not be forced to show up for an interview. Mr. Terwilliger did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Friday evening.