US President Donald Trump was so determined to join the armed crowd that paraded in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, grabbing the steering wheel of The Beast – the presidential limousine – in an attempt to steer it towards the ongoing uprising. according to a new account of a top White House aide. The volatile Mr. Trump was known to express his anger by pulling out a tablecloth to break dishes and leaving the wall of the presidential dining room painted with ketchup after throwing a plate at Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mr. Trump. Mark Meadows, said on Tuesday. But on January 6, his anger was sparked by his thwarted attempt to join gunmen in a demonstration, after which he told supporters: “We will go down to the Capitol.” By then, Mr. Trump had been informed that security services had spotted men armed with Glock pistols and AR-15 assault rifles just outside Ellipse, the park south of the White House where Mr. Trump was making his remarks. Congress convened to certify the November 3, 2020 election of Joe Biden as president, a vote that challenged Mr. Trump. In the weeks following the uprising, Trump’s supporters said his statements about participating in the Capitol protest were metaphorical. Not so, said Ms. Hutchinson, who was in contact with Mr. Trump at a critical time on January 6. On Tuesday, Hutsinson, 26, described what she saw and heard that day in a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating what happened and the threat it posed to the U.S. system of government. Hearings on Jan. 6: Creepy witness testimony describes how close Trump came to taking part in the Capitol Uprising What the January 6 hearings on the state of democracy in America have revealed so far Her testimony gave a new form to fellowship with the anti-democratic uprising which marked the last days of Mr. Trump’s rule, describing a chaos and fear inside the White House that reflected the raid on roadblocks less than three miles away. Mrs. Hutchinson portrayed Mr. Trump on January 6 as a leader who, after losing an election, wanted to join the armed insurgents in their movement in the Capitol in an effort to prevent the transfer of executive power. In many ways, Mr. Trump went beyond the protests of White House lawyers who tried to soften his tongue and urged him to condemn the rioters who entered the Capitol and were 15 meters away from then-Vice President Mike Pence. By the way, when the mob in the Capitol started shouting “Hang Mike Pence”, Mr. Trump told those who were with him in the Oval Office dining room that the vice president “deserves it,” Hutchinson said. Instead of demanding calm, Mr. Trump wanted to publicly reassure protesters that he might forgive them, he said. (Some of those closest to Trump, Ms. Hutchinson said, also apologized for the events of January 6, including Mr. Mendous and Presidential Attorney Rudy Giuliani.) Some of what Hutchinson described was based on used accounts, others on her own conversations with Mr. Meadows, White House staff and members of Congress. Her recollections could not be verified immediately and some contradict public statements made by others involved. Mr. Meadows and Mr. Trump did not respond publicly. Mick Mulvaney, who preceded Mr Meadows as White House chief of staff, described Ms Hutchinson’s descriptions as “explosive”, saying on Twitter that others should respond: “If Cassidy invents this, he should “They say that. If it is not, they will have to confirm it. I know her. I do not think she is lying.” Key elements of Ms. Hutchinson’s recollection took place around her Jan. 6 speech at The Ellipse, where she said Mr. Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the small size of the crowd. He was told that many people had refused to participate because they did not want to go through the magnetometers, or mags, used to cover metal objects. Some were armed and did not want the Secret Service to seize their weapons. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, told a House of Representatives selection committee investigating the Jan. 6 uprising that when Trump heard he would not go to the the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel “and” Trump then used his free hand to fly “to Robert Engel, who was in charge of Trump’s security detail at the time. Reuters The White House was aware that the protesters were carrying knives, guns, armor, bear spray and spears attached to flagpoles, Hutchinson said. But Mr. Trump wanted to bypass security concerns to allow more people to join the crowd, he said. “I personally tell the president something that means: ‘I do not care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Remove the spells. Let my people in. “They can make their way to the Capitol from here,” he said. After Mr. Trump’s speech, he entered the Beast waiting to be taken to the Capitol. When he was told that security concerns had made it impossible, he became angry, telling his security chief: “I am the current president. “Take me to the Capitol now,” said Hutchinson. Mr Trump then “stretched out the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel,” he said, before flying in the direction of his security chief’s neck. Other White House officials also said that Mr. Trump wanted to take part in the protest, although their accounts are contradicted by Mr. Meadows, who in his book The chiefcalls the January 6 uprising the work of “a handful of fanatics.” Mr. Meadows writes that the thousands of people who went down to the Capitol “had absolutely no encouragement” from Mr. Trump and that the then president was “speaking metaphorically” when he said he was going to the Capitol. At 2:24 p.m. On Jan. 6, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that his vice president “did not have the courage to do what needed to be done” – a message that prompted some staff members to resign – before finally releasing a video statement to those at Capitol: “We must have peace. So go home, we love you “. But he made the statement reluctantly and under pressure from others, including his daughter, Ivanka Trump, a key adviser, Hutchinson said. Earlier in the day, he said, White House adviser Pat Shipolone had urged Mr. Meadows to see the president after rioters arrived at the Capitol. Mr. Meadows, he said, looked up from his phone to answer, “He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat.” The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
