Giuliani groping allegations, a 'bonfire' of documents: Takeaways from Cassidy Hutchinson book

WASHINGTON – One of the biggest surprises in the new book from Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide whose testimony electrified congressional hearings into the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, is that she still planned to work for Donald Trump in Florida after the riot.

Except Trump didn’t want her.

Hutchinson was a top aide to Mark Meadows, then Trump's chief of staff. She planned to continue working for Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his term ended, she wrote in her book “Enough.”

But despite her loyalty, Meadows told Hutchinson two days before leaving the White House that Trump suspected her of leaking to the press the names of people joining him in Florida, which she denied.

“My frustration turned to rage. ‘Mark, you can go to hell if you think that,’” Hutchinson wrote. “That night I went home and unpacked, trying to let the news sink in that I wasn’t moving to Florida.”

Instead, Hutchinson became the most revelatory witness during the House's investigation of Jan. 6 hearings and her book provides an explanation for the actions behind Trump's criminal charges.

Anecdotes include how Meadows’ wife complained to her about the campfire smell of his burning papers. Rudy Giuliani allegedly groped her at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally. And her observations foreshadowed criminal charges Trump would face over the handling of classified documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Here are five takeaways from the book:

Giuliani approached 'like a wolf closing in on its prey," Hutchinson wrote

The book largely tracks the testimony Hutchinson delivered before the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. But one revelation was her accusation that Giuliani, Trump’s chief campaign lawyer, groped her at the president's Jan. 6 rally near the White House. Giuliani has denied the allegation.

Hutchinson wrote that she was in a tent with Giuliani and another campaign lawyer who spoke at the rally, John Eastman, who had a "Cheshire cat smile." Giuliani approached her "like a wolf closing in on its prey," Hutchinson wrote.

Giuliani complimented her leather jacket, which she told him was faux leather, and he wrapped his arm around her body, Hutchinson wrote.

“His hand slips under my blazer, then my skirt,” Hutchinson wrote. “I feel his frozen fingertips trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes looked jaundiced. My eyes dart to John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin.”

Hutchinson wrote that she recoiled and stormed away in a rage.

Giuliani denied the allegations during an interview with Newsmax. He estimated the tent was filled with 100 people and that he was surrounded by staffers or supporters the entire time.

“The claims are absolutely false, totally absurd,” Giuliani said.

Meadows' wife said his suits 'smell like a bonfire' from burning documents, Hutchinson wrote

Meadows was burning so much paperwork in his office fireplace during the final weeks of the administration that Hutchinson wrote she was worried he would set off the smoke detectors.

Hutchinson propped open the door to a patio despite the chill on Dec. 19, 2020, she wrote.

The Presidential Records Act requires White House staffers to preserve their documents and send them to the National Archives. Copies and personal documents were supposed to be destroyed in burn bags, she wrote.

“I do not know precisely what papers Mark was burning, but his actions raised alarms,” she wrote. “Even if he was burning copies, he was still toeing a fine line of what should be preserved, under the law.”

Meadows’ wife Debbie, who helped pack his belongings when leaving the White House, asked Hutchinson and another staffer not to light the fireplace any more.

“All of his suits smell like a bonfire and I can’t keep up with his dry cleaning,” Hutchinson quoted Debbie Meadows as saying.

Hutchinson compares White House on Jan. 6 to Titanic

Hutchinson breaks little new ground in the book from her testimony before the committee. But her eye for detail is often amusing, such as when she notices when arriving at the rally Jan. 6 the loudspeakers are playing “My Heart Will Go On,” from the movie “Titanic.”

“The ship is the White House,” Hutchinson tells a friend, who replies: “And we’re in steerage.”

The book echoed her testimony from her House testimony:

• Hutchinson helped clean up the ketchup smeared on a fireplace mantel and shattered plate on the floor of his private dining room off the Oval Office. Trump had thrown his lunch in anger at then-Attorney General Bill Barr telling the Associated Press on Dec. 1, 2020, that Trump had lost the election.

• Hutchinson couldn’t hear what the fight was about Dec. 18, 2020, but the raised voices erupting from the Oval Office were “highly unusual.” According to the House Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, and lawyer Sidney Powell, among others, were urging Trump to seize voting machines, which White House lawyers opposed. “The screaming was much louder than I anticipated,” Hutchinson wrote.

• Hutchinson also recited an exchange Jan. 6, 2021, with Tony Ornato, then-deputy of staff and a Secret Service official. Ornato described an “irate” Trump demanding to be taken to the Capitol in his vehicle nicknamed “the Beast,” before Secret Service agent Bobby Engel rebuffed him, Hutchinson wrote. Ornato described Trump “grabbing for the steering wheel, and then for Bobby’s neck,” Hutchinson wrote.

Hutchinson's observations about classified documents, Jan. 6 foreshadow criminal charges against Trump

Hutchinson foreshadows the criminal charges against Trump.

At one point, Meadows scolds her for storing classified binders about Crossfire Hurricane, an FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, in a safe rather than in her desk drawer as he instructed, Hutchinson wrote.

Meadows asked her to coordinate declassification of documents during the final month of the administration, she wrote. She described carrying armloads of classified documents around White House offices, despite not holding a security clearance to deal with them.

“When I got to Florida, I reminded myself, I would have a fresh opportunity to restore order so the president would be better served,” Hutchinson wrote.

Trump has been charged in federal court in Florida with mishandling hundreds of classified documents he brought to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House. Trump pleaded not guilty.

When Meadows traveled to Georgia on vacation, he visited the Cobb County Civic Center, where state election officials were auditing ballot signatures.

A Fulton County grand jury cited the visit in the racketeering indictment of Trump, Meadows and 17 others.

Meadows arranged the call Jan. 2, 2021, when Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to the win the state. After the call, White House counsel Pat Cipollone appeared at Meadows’ office and said: “That call was not good,” Hutchinson wrote.

Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and to asking Raffensperger to violate his oath of office. His lawyers contend the “kerfuffle” about his trip to Georgia was based on discharging his official duties.

Hutchinson dedicates book to lawyers who represented her for free

The book is dedicated to Hutchinson’s pro bono lawyers rather than to her parents or others.

She was initially represented in the congressional investigation of Jan. 6 by a lawyer arranged by former White House aides: Stefan Passantino. But she worried about misleading the committee with incomplete answers about what she saw, as she eventually testified to the committee.

Passantino never told her to lie, as she testified and writes in the book. He sought to keep her testimony brief and uneventful. But Hutchinson feared what would happen if she left out important information as the committee called her back for a third deposition, such as about Trump wanting to visit the Capitol.

“Liz Cheney zeroed in on how I knew what had been said in the Beast: ‘So who relayed to you the conversation that happened in the Beast?’” Hutchinson wrote. “I froze. I thought for certain she had heard that something eventful had happened, and she suspected I knew what it was.”

Hutchinson worried she had lied to the committee by not explaining more fully. As she cast about for a new lawyer, Bill Jordan and Jody Hunt of Alston & Bird volunteered to represent her for free.

“Well, Cassidy, it looks like you’ve had quite the adventure the last few years,” Jordan told her, according to her book.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cassidy Hutchinson book details Giuliani allegations, bonfire of paper