The House panel investigating the Capitol insurrection is hearing testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide in Donald Trump's White House who is a vital witness in the sweeping investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.The 25-year-old, who was a special assistant and aide to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, has already provided a trove of information to congressional investigators and sat for multiple interviews behind closed doors.Her appearance has been cloaked in extraordinary secrecy and has raised expectations for new revelations in the nearly yearlong investigation. The committee announced the surprise hearing with only 24 hours' notice. Here's the latest from the hearing (updates in ET):1:20 p.m. The Jan. 6 committee established the proximity of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, during the beginning of Tuesday's hearings. Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6 panel, noted that Hutchinson worked in the West Wing, “several steps down the hall from the Oval Office,” and “spoke daily with members of Congress, with high-ranking officials in the administration, with senior White House staff, including Mr. Meadows, with White House Counsel’s office lawyers, and with Mr. Tony Ornato who served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff."According to Cheney, Hutchinson sat for four videotaped interviews with the panel. Footage from those interviews is being shown during today's hearing.1:15 p.m. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Jan. 6 House select committee, opened Tuesday's hearing by saying the panel "obtained new information dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6 and in the days prior."Specifically, Thompson said the committee received "specific detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours, firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House Chief of Staff just steps from the Oval Office as the threats of violence became clear and, indeed, violence ultimately descended on the Capitol in the attack on American democracy.""Thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won't be buried," he said.Original story below: In brief excerpts of testimony revealed in court filings, Hutchinson told the committee she was in the room for White House meetings where challenges to the election were debated and discussed, including with several Republican lawmakers. In one instance, Hutchinson described seeing Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Politico reported in May.She also revealed that the White House counsel's office cautioned against plans to enlist fake electors in swing states, including in meetings involving Meadows and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Attorneys for the president advised that the plan was not "legally sound," Cassidy said.During her three separate depositions, Hutchinson also testified about her boss' surprise trip to Georgia weeks after the election to oversee the audit of absentee ballot envelope signatures and ask questions about the process.She also detailed how Jeffrey Clark — a top Justice Department official who championed Trump's false claims of election fraud and whom the president contemplated naming as attorney general — was a "frequent presence" at the White House.The plot to remove the then-acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, unraveled during a Jan. 3, 2021, meeting in the Oval Office when other senior Justice Department officials warned Trump that they would resign if he followed through with his plan to replace Rosen with Clark.The House panel has not explained why it abruptly scheduled the 1 p.m. hearing as lawmakers are away from Washington on a two-week recess. The committee had said last week that there would be no more hearings until July.The precise subject of Tuesday's hearing remained unclear, but the panel's announcement Monday said it would be "to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony." A spokesman for the panel declined to elaborate and Hutchinson's lawyer did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.The person familiar with the committee's plans to call Hutchinson could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.The nine-member committee's investigation has continued during the hearings, which started three weeks ago into the attack by Trump supporters. Among the evidence, the committee recently obtained footage of Trump and his inner circle taken both before and after Jan. 6 from British filmmaker Alex Holder.Holder said last week that he had complied with a congressional subpoena to turn over all the footage he shot in the final weeks of Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, including exclusive interviews with Trump, his children and then-Vice President Mike Pence.Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the panel's Democratic chairman, told reporters last week that the committee was in possession of the footage and needed more time to go through the hours of video.The panel has held five hearings so far, mostly laying out Trump's pressure campaign on various institutions of power in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress, when hundreds of the Republican's supporters violently pushed past police, broke into the building and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election victory.The committee has used the hearings to detail the pressure from Trump and his allies on Pence, on the states that were certifying Biden's win, and on the Justice Department. The panel has used live interviews, video testimony of its private witness interviews and footage of the attack to detail what it has learned.
The House panel investigating the Capitol insurrection is hearing testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide in Donald Trump's White House who is a vital witness in the sweeping investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The 25-year-old, who was a special assistant and aide to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, has already provided a trove of information to congressional investigators and sat for multiple interviews behind closed doors.
Her appearance has been cloaked in extraordinary secrecy and has raised expectations for new revelations in the nearly yearlong investigation. The committee announced the surprise hearing with only 24 hours' notice.
Here's the latest from the hearing (updates in ET):
1:20 p.m.
The Jan. 6 committee established the proximity of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, during the beginning of Tuesday's hearings.
Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6 panel, noted that Hutchinson worked in the West Wing, “several steps down the hall from the Oval Office,” and “spoke daily with members of Congress, with high-ranking officials in the administration, with senior White House staff, including Mr. Meadows, with White House Counsel’s office lawyers, and with Mr. Tony Ornato who served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff."
According to Cheney, Hutchinson sat for four videotaped interviews with the panel. Footage from those interviews is being shown during today's hearing.
1:15 p.m.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Jan. 6 House select committee, opened Tuesday's hearing by saying the panel "obtained new information dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6 and in the days prior."
Specifically, Thompson said the committee received "specific detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours, firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House Chief of Staff just steps from the Oval Office as the threats of violence became clear and, indeed, violence ultimately descended on the Capitol in the attack on American democracy."
"Thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won't be buried," he said.
Original story below:
In brief excerpts of testimony revealed in court filings, Hutchinson told the committee she was in the room for White House meetings where challenges to the election were debated and discussed, including with several Republican lawmakers. In one instance, Hutchinson described seeing Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Politico reported in May.
She also revealed that the White House counsel's office cautioned against plans to enlist fake electors in swing states, including in meetings involving Meadows and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Attorneys for the president advised that the plan was not "legally sound," Cassidy said.
During her three separate depositions, Hutchinson also testified about her boss' surprise trip to Georgia weeks after the election to oversee the audit of absentee ballot envelope signatures and ask questions about the process.
She also detailed how Jeffrey Clark — a top Justice Department official who championed Trump's false claims of election fraud and whom the president contemplated naming as attorney general — was a "frequent presence" at the White House.
The plot to remove the then-acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, unraveled during a Jan. 3, 2021, meeting in the Oval Office when other senior Justice Department officials warned Trump that they would resign if he followed through with his plan to replace Rosen with Clark.
The House panel has not explained why it abruptly scheduled the 1 p.m. hearing as lawmakers are away from Washington on a two-week recess. The committee had said last week that there would be no more hearings until July.
The precise subject of Tuesday's hearing remained unclear, but the panel's announcement Monday said it would be "to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony." A spokesman for the panel declined to elaborate and Hutchinson's lawyer did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The person familiar with the committee's plans to call Hutchinson could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The nine-member committee's investigation has continued during the hearings, which started three weeks ago into the attack by Trump supporters. Among the evidence, the committee recently obtained footage of Trump and his inner circle taken both before and after Jan. 6 from British filmmaker Alex Holder.
Holder said last week that he had complied with a congressional subpoena to turn over all the footage he shot in the final weeks of Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, including exclusive interviews with Trump, his children and then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the panel's Democratic chairman, told reporters last week that the committee was in possession of the footage and needed more time to go through the hours of video.
The panel has held five hearings so far, mostly laying out Trump's pressure campaign on various institutions of power in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress, when hundreds of the Republican's supporters violently pushed past police, broke into the building and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election victory.
The committee has used the hearings to detail the pressure from Trump and his allies on Pence, on the states that were certifying Biden's win, and on the Justice Department. The panel has used live interviews, video testimony of its private witness interviews and footage of the attack to detail what it has learned.
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