OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
Seemingly desperate for attention and perhaps to prove their validity, the partisan January 6 commission pulled a fast one this week with a surprise Tuesday hearing. They paraded out their so-called “star witness” to reveal what they tout to be a bombshell testimony, one in which they likely believe would seal the fate of the former President of the United States.
However, that backfired when the substance of the witness’ allegations were called into question, not by a defense, as there is not one present at this show trial, but by people and professionals present during the circumstances described in the testimony. Witness Cassidy Hutchinson was not there personally for many of the incidents she described from the stand, rather she provided second-hand information (ie. gossip) she was told…far from a “smoking gun” the committee wants the public to believe it to be.
The former president of the United States Donald Trump ridiculed former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday, in which he claimed that Trump attempted to seize control of his presidential SUV and strangled a Secret Service agent.
In typical Trump fashion, he summed up the accusations of the woman as “absolutely crazy,” as reported by Newsmax.
However, that was not all he provided in response to rightfully defend himself against the character assassination she dished out on the stand. After all, her statements were largely made on gossip, not fact, as she cleverly used the phrase “something to the effect of” in combination with every damning accusation she lobbed against the former president. This was perhaps more of a measure to prevent perjuring herself rather than a coincidental phrase she said in excess.
“This lady, yesterday — is there something wrong with her?” Trump said on Wednesday following the “bombshell” surprise testimony.
“She said I jumped from a car, I started strangling a Secret Service agent who I know very well? I grabbed the steering wheel of a car? Said that I wanted guns at my rally? I didn’t want guns. I have to speak, too. I don’t want guns for anybody,” he said.
In response to this catastrophic claim, there have been several reports in the last couple of days that Secret Service agents are willing to testify that Ms. Hutchinson’s allegations are not true. According to an attorney representing Hutchinson, the allegation about the SUV was based on second-hand information that their client was told, rather than her own personal account of the event.
“The woman is living in fantasy land,” Trump said. “She’s a social climber, if you call that social. I think it’s just a shame that this is happening to this country, and we don’t have any Republicans up there to dispute it.”
Trump described Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as a “total disaster”. She has been a vehement critic of him for several years now, which has the potential major implications in regards to her heading the January 6 committee against him. Trump noted that there’s nobody to cross-examine Hutchinson following her massive claims, as there typically would be in a fair court of law.
It would have been the “easiest cross-examination anywhere,” Trump added. “They put her on, and they don’t even confirm it with the Secret Service. The Secret Service people in the car said this didn’t happen, but you don’t even need that. Who would do that? I would grab a Secret Service person by the throat?”
In his defense against Hutchinson’s allegations of him having attempted to commandeer the steering wheel of the presidential SUV, Trump noted the physical impossibility of that saying, “These guys lift 350 pounds. I don’t.”
In addition to saying, “I hardly know who she is” Trump said he saw Hutchinson “making up stories, one after another, but the craziest of all was that I tried to commandeer a car with Secret Service agents, telling them to take us down to the Capitol. It was totally false, that a person can get away with it.”
“It’s a very sad thing that this was allowed to take place, in our country, that somebody can just get there without cross-examination,” he said, adding that Hutchinson has “serious problems, let me put it that way. Mental problems.”
The former president said that at one point, Hutchinson was considered to join the aides in Florida with Trump after leaving the White House, but she was rejected for reasons he did not reveal at the time.
In his interview, Trump attacked the panel.
“This committee is, a lot of people say, illegally formed,” Trump said.
“When you look at what they’re doing, and you look at what they’re saying, what they’re doing to the country, the good news is, a lot of people aren’t watching. A lot of people aren’t listening to it, but they’re trying to do real harm,” he said.
Source: The Republic Brief