WASHINGTON - The House Jan. 6 committee expects to reach deep inside the Trump White House on Tuesday, as Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies publicly about West Wing activities in the frenetic final weeks of the Trump presidency.
In pre-recorded testimony from a prior hearing last week, Hutchinson made bombshell allegations that several members of Congress sought pardons for themselves and colleagues after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Hutchinson's live appearance was shrouded in mystery: The hearing was announced Monday, and her name was withheld by the panel, unlike previous hearings that would be announced a week before with a list of witnesses.
The committee sees her as a pivotal figure because of her proximity to Meadows, the former congressman and Trump gatekeeper who was in frequent communication with the then-president and allies who worked to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. Lawmakers say Trump acted illegally in that effort, which included a plan to certify fake voters, and resulted in the storming of the Capitol.
As the executive assistant to Meadows, Hutchinson had access to documents and conversations that could shed new light on the actions and motives of Trump White House officials, lawmakers and outside allies of the former president.
I don't know Cassidy Hutchinson, and I can't speak to how things worked in the White House, but when Meadows was on the Hill he always insisted that she be in every meeting, no matter how small, Brendan Buck, a onetime House GOP leadership aide, wrote on Twitter. It was odd then, and doesn't seem to be working out for him now. Tuesday's hearing was the sixth in a series of investigations of Jan. 6 and Trump's role in it. The House impeached Donald Trump for inciting the riot, but the Senate, after he was already out of office, failed to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him.
In its previous hearings the committee focused on physical violence at the Capitol, advisers who told Trump he had lost the election, the threat to the safety of then-Vice President Mike Pence as rioters tried to stop him from presiding over the counting of votes, the Trump team's plan to install fake electors and Trump's push to enlist the Justice Department in that effort.
Hutchinson, who previously worked on legislative affairs for Meadows' team and had previously served as a White House intern, attended Christopher Newport University.