Witness Cassidy Hutchinson has gone into hiding with her family and a security guard after she made new damning statements during the Jan. 6 hearings on former President Donald Trump, according to reports from The New York Times. Hutchinson, a former White House aide, in an explosive testimony during a live committee hearing on July 3, said Trump had sought to lead a crowd to the Capitol on Jan. 6 but was prevented from doing so by the Secret Service.
The New York Times reported on July 10th that the committee rushed to have Hutchinson testify at the hearing as Trump’s allies sought to interfere with her testimony and the details of her account would be leaked. Following her testimony, Trump disputed the veracity of her account, claiming that he barely remembered her and that she was a “social climber.” Other Trump allies have similarly worked to undermine her credibility, per reports.
The report in the Times described Hutchinson as “unemployed and sequestered with her family and a security detail” following her testimony, which distanced her from many Trump officials with whom she worked.
Hutchinson served as an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and according to the Times, was among the officials responsible for securing congressional support for Trump in his first impeachment trial. There were reports in the Times that Hutchinson had formed a bond with Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s ranking Republican, who came under fire and political ostracism after calling on the GOP to get rid of the influence of Trump.
State election officials who have appeared before the committee described encountering a wave of threats from Trump supporters after being pressured by the former president to help reverse his defeat in the 2020 election.
But Cassidy faces push-back from numerous sources on the testimony and her lack of credibility. Freelance journalist and Sirius XM radio host Megyn Kelly blasted Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee, claiming that “a first year law student could have driven a truck through the holes” in her story.
The former Fox News host opened her July 30th show with a monologue about the current January 6 Committee hearings, starting with her own assessment of former President Donald Trump. Referring to her proper debate questions about Trump’s character – and whether or not he was a good fit for the presidency – Kelly argued that Trump’s behavior upon losing the 2020 presidential election was a reliable indicator that she was right to ask about it.
Kelly then moved to the committee itself, saying that its only goal all along was to damage Trump so severely that he couldn’t run in 2024 – and she said that if they were just honest about it, she might be more interested in what they had to say.
“It cloaks itself in sanctimony, purporting to be a fair-minded, down-the-middle finder of fact, just looking to get to the truth of January 6th,” Kelly added. “It’s a lie. And they prove every time they get together it’s a lie.”
Kelly then went on to address the testimony of Hutchinson, asserting that her comments were “causing Democrats and the press to collapse onto their fainting couches” as reported.
Unfolding Hutchinson’s testimony point by point, Kelly started by asserting that Trump would have allegedly known that his armed supporters were trying to enter the rally on Jan. 6 – and that he has encouraged Secret Service members to allow them in without actually forcing them to pass metal detectors.
Kelly initially pointed to the evasive language Hutchinson used even as she testified, noting that she had not really made a direct statement. But instead, she had been “in the vicinity of a conversation” that she “overheard” in which then-President Trump said “something to the effect of” about his supporters carrying weapons.