‘Shocking’: Trump aides react to testimony from former White House aide

Aides to former US President Donald Trump were speechless after the first half of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday (28), acknowledging the CNN that his testimony was “a bombshell” with potentially huge repercussions for Trump.

Trump was already gearing up for a tense day of testimony from Hutchinson, who previously told the US House Select Committee that the former president approved of protesters’ violent threats against Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021.

“This is a bomb. It’s impressive. It’s shocking. I have no words. It is simply impressive,” said an adviser to the former president. “It paints a picture of Trump completely unhinged and completely losing control that, to his base, think of him as someone who’s been in charge all the time,” he added.

The adviser, who is in a group conversation with several other Trump aides and allies during the hearing, said “no one is taking this lightly.” “For the first time since hearings began, no one is ignoring this,” he said.

Another Trump ally told CNN that the testimony of Hutchinson, a former high-ranking aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, would seal Meadows’ fate as a “persona non grata” for the former president.

“This is one of the reasons why [Trump] is furious with Meadows. He was already frozen, but now he will be persona non grata,” he stated.

The surprising revelations in Hutchinson’s testimony about Trump’s erratic behavior and state of mind on Jan. 6 could make it easier for Republican presidential candidates to challenge the former president in a primary election, the Trump ally added.

“This is basically a campaign commercial for (Florida Governor) Ron DeSantis 2024,” he said.

Trump says he barely knows Hutchinson

Trump, as he often does with aides and allies with whom he was once close but later turned on him, said on Tuesday that he “barely knows” Hutchinson and that he had personally rejected a request she made to join his post-war team. presidency in Mar-a-Lago.

“When she asked to go with some others on my team to Florida after I had served a full term, I personally declined her request,” Trump said on social media.

Trump tried to label Hutchinson’s testimony as revenge, claiming she was “very upset and angry that I didn’t want her” at her Palm Beach residence.

The former president’s attempt to distance himself from Hutchinson, whom he described as “bad news” on Tuesday, came after the committee demonstrated just how close she was to the Oval Office as an assistant to Meadows. Several former White House aides have also publicly attested to Hutchinson’s closeness to Trump and his chief of staff.

“Anyone who downplays Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access to the West Wing doesn’t understand how the Trump White House worked or is trying to discredit her because they’re afraid of how damning that testimony is,” said the former deputy secretary of state. White House Press Sarah Matthews.

In response to this, a former White House aide said: “Everyone at the top of the White House knew her. And even if Trump didn’t know her name, he certainly recognized her. She flew on Air Force One with Mark on every trip.”

The most surprising episode for some aides was when Hutchinson recounted an incident she had heard about, where Trump allegedly tried to take control of the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle so he could drive to the Capitol on January 6.

Trump was nervous about the testimony

Trump has previously denied Hutchinson’s leaked testimony, claiming on his Truth Social platform earlier this month that he “never said, or even thought to say, ‘Hang Mike Pence’.”

“This is a story made up by someone who wants to become a star or fake news!” he wrote at the time.

But a person close to Trump said the former president was nervous about Tuesday’s hearing. Prior to the deposition, that person said Trump was feeling triumphant amid back-to-back Supreme Court decisions protecting the right to bear arms and ending the constitutional right to abortion.

“He definitely didn’t expect a turnaround like this,” he said.

The former president and his allies plan to classify Hutchinson as a junior aide who had little influence within the West Wing, despite her closeness to the then-president and her then-chief of staff.

Hutchinson served in the Office of Legislative Affairs before becoming one of Meadows’ top advisers and was an eyewitness to several key episodes leading up to January 6, as well as witnessing some of Trump’s real-time reactions that day.

Trump was specifically concerned about what Hutchinson might say about his state of mind and the response to protesters on Jan. 6, a second person close to him said.