Dozens of Trump administration officials and aides have testified privately before the committee, and video and audio clips of what they told investig
Dozens of Trump administration officials and aides have testified privately before the committee, and video and audio clips of what they told investigators have been a central part of the committee’s hearings. But until Tuesday, no official who worked directly for Mr. Trump in the White House had sat before the committee to give live, nationally televised testimony.
After the hearing, Ms. Hutchinson was immediately surrounded by a phalanx of news photographers who had been documenting her every gesture as she sat, alone at a witness table, facing the committee. At times during her testimony she seemed nervous, but she appeared to gain confidence as she testified. By the end, the panel’s chairman praised her courage, and made an appeal to other witnesses to follow her example and speak out.
“If you’ve heard this testimony today and suddenly you remember things you couldn’t previously recall, or there are some details you’d like to clarify, or you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open,” Mr. Thompson said.
Ms. Hutchinson said Mr. Meadows was worried as early as Jan. 2 that Mr. Trump’s rally could get out of control — “Things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6,” she said he told her. She testified that Anthony M. Ornato, the former White House chief of operations, warned Mr. Meadows on Jan. 6 that the crowd seemed ready for violence, and had knives, guns, bear spray, body armor, spears and flagpoles.
She said Mr. Meadows appeared unmoved by the information, only asking Mr. Ornato whether he had informed Mr. Trump, which Mr. Ornato said he had.
Later, Ms. Hutchinson described being within earshot of Mr. Trump as he demanded that his supporters be able to move around the Ellipse freely even though they were armed.
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