Ex-White House aide delivers explosive public testimony to January 6 panel

In explosive public testimony, a former White House aide told the January 6 committee that Donald Trump knowingly directed armed supporters to march to the US Capitol in a last-gasp effort to remain in power.

Appearing at a hastily scheduled hearing, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, painted a devastating portrait of a raging president spiraling out of control and a White House often too ambivalent to constrain him.

Hutchinson testified that Trump and key aides were warned that a rally on 6 January 2021 could turn violent days before Trump stepped on stage at the Ellipse in Washington to urge his supporters to “fight like hell” for his presidency.

“Things might get real, real bad on 6 January,” Hutchinson recalled Meadows telling her on 2 January.

“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous about what could happen on January 6,” she said.

The hearing concluded with another stunning disclosure: the committee vice-chair, Liz Cheney, suggested Trump allies have sought to “influence or impact” witnesses.