The January 6 committee has been investigating the events that occurred before, during, and after the violent attack on the Capitol for nearly one year now, but on Monday, it announced that it would be holding an unscheduled hearing to present “recently obtained evidence.” According to The New York Times, that evidence was obtained from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s last chief of staff at the White House. And based on what we already know Hutchinson has told the panel, it sure sounds like the ex-president and his allies should be concerned!
As the Times notes, Hutchinson “has provided the panel with some of its biggest revelations to date, all made during videotaped closed-door testimony, portions of which have been shown or alluded to in previous hearings.” Hutchinson, for instance, confirmed that she was in the room when Meadows revealed that Trump had complained about Mike Pence being taken to a secure location on January 6 and “said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged.”
Hutchinson, per Politico, also “told the panel investigating the Capitol attack that she saw Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry,” who worked with the White House on its attempt to overturn the election results; that a Secret Service agent told Meadows there were reports predicting potential violence on January 6; that “the White House Counsel’s Office, during a meeting with Meadows and Rudy Giuliani and others, advised that the scheme to have alternate electors meet and cast votes for Trump was not legal”; that Giuliani, Meadows, and various members of Congress were discussing the fake-electors plot over Thanksgiving 2020; and that six House Republicans asked for pardons over their activities surrounding January 6. Among other things!
On Monday, after the committee announced the unscheduled hearing but before any witnesses were revealed, John Dean, the White House counsel under Richard Nixon, tweeted: “BETTER BE A BIG DEAL: There was only one surprise witness during the Senate Watergate Committee hearings. On July 16, 1973 an unannounced witness appeared: Alex Butterfield, who testified to Nixon’s secret taping system — forever changing history!”
In other potentially not-great news for Trump and company, we also learned on Monday that the FBI had seized the phone of John Eastman, the right-wing attorney who authored a six-step plan for Pence to block the certification of Joe Biden’s win, whom Trump is reportedly trying to distance himself from. According to The Washington Post, Eastman’s lawyer has asked a judge to return the phone to his client, who later appeared on Fox News, where Tucker Carlson advised non-Biden voters to delete their emails and texts:
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, click here to subscribe.
Read More From Vanity Fair
Anne Hathaway on Tuning Out the Haters and Embracing Her True Self
Rose Hanbury Sends Legal Notice to Stephen Colbert After His Affair Joke
The Confessions of an Art Fraudster Extraordinaire
The Evolving Power of the Princess of Wales
The Best TV Shows of 2024, So Far
From the Archive: The Fatal Mauling of the Man Who Loved Grizzlies (2004)
Stay in the know and subscribe to Vanity Fair for just
$2.50$1 per month.