Meadows: 'Things might get real, real bad on January 6th'
During Tuesday's public hearing of the House select committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Cassy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mark Meadows, testified that Meadows told her on Jan. 2, "Things might get real, real bad on January 6th."
Video Transcript
LIZ CHENEY: Mr. Chairman, we will begin today with an exchange that first provided Ms. Hutchinson a tangible sense of the ongoing planning for the events of January 6. On January 2, four days before the attack on our Capitol, President Trump's lead lawyer, Mr. Giuliani, was meeting with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and others. Ms. Hutchinson, do you remember Mr. Giuliani meeting with Mr. Meadows on January 2, 2021?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: I do. He met with Mr. Meadows in the evening of January 2, 2021.
LIZ CHENEY: And we understand that you walked Mr. Giuliani out of the White House that night. And he talked to you about January 6. What do you remember him saying?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: As Mr. Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicles that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It's going to be a great day. I remember looking at him, saying, Rudy, could you explain what's happening on the 6th?
He-- and he had responded something to the effect of, we're going to the Capitol. It's going to be great. President's going to be there. He's going to look powerful. He's going to be with the members. He's going to be with the senators. Talk to the chief about it. Talk to the chief about it. He knows about it.
LIZ CHENEY: And did you go back, then, up to the West Wing and tell Mr. Meadows about your conversation with Mr. Giuliani?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: I did. After Mr. Giuliani had left the campus that evening, I went back up to our office and I found Mr. Meadows in his office on the couch. He was scrolling through his phone. I remember leaning against the doorway and saying, I just had an interesting conversation with Rudy, Mark. It sounds like we're going to go to the Capitol.
He didn't look up from his phone and said something to the effect of, there's a lot going on, Cass. But I don't know. Things might get real, real bad on January 6.
LIZ CHENEY: Ms. Hutchinson, Mr. Meadows is engaged in litigation with the committee to try to avoid testifying here. What was your reaction when he said to you things might get real, real bad?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: In the days before January 2, I was apprehensive about the 6th. I had heard general plans for a rally. I had heard tentative movements to potentially go to the Capitol. But when hearing Rudy's take on January 6 and then Mark's response, that was the first-- that evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on January 6. And I had a deeper concern for what was happening with the planning aspects of it.
