Bombshell After Bombshell Reveals Violent Intent and Inaction by Donald Trump On January 6

The sixth U.S. House January 6 Select Committee hearing today featured testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows. In response, Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen and co-chair of the Not Above the Law Coalition, released the following statement:

"White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's first-person account of Trump, Meadows and their allies' knowledge of the violent intent of the mob that stormed the Capitol is a bombshell. In the reams of evidence against Trump and his allies, Hutchinson's testimony of the deeply detailed plans of January 6 and the inaction of those in the White House in response to the violence show just how close we came to a coup. Her testimony comes at a critical point in the hearings, showing the conspirators knew what they were doing was illegal, and knew it could result in violence, yet they proceeded anyway.

"And that once the violence was ongoing, the President refused to act.

"Hutchinson's testimony blows any notion of plausible deniability surrounding January 6 out of the water. She said Trump knew his rally crowd was armed, but said they weren't there to hurt him. He encouraged an armed crowd to go to the Capitol, and told them that he would be with them.

"There must be accountability for the criminal conspiracy to steal our votes that ultimately led to the violence on January 6 that we now know the administration anticipated, and that Trump encouraged."