In his testimony, Hutchinson shared that former Secret Service agent Anthony Ornato told him that Trump rushed to his team leader on Jan. 6 to be driven to the Capitol and join his supporters.
Lofgren said that although Ornato’s memory “doesn’t seem as accurate”, Hutchinson’s testimony is consistent with what others have said.
“Certainly her testimony that she directly heard President Trump say he didn’t care if they had guns, if the crowd had guns, that they weren’t going to hurt him and they could marching to the Capitol with their weapons after the speech. It was new and beautiful, really,” she said.
Asked by Todd if the House committee blindsided the Justice Department with Hutchinson’s testimony, Lofgren said she didn’t think so and was surprised the DOJ didn’t subpoena the former aide. himself.
“I was surprised the prosecutors were surprised. What are they doing there? Lofgren said. “They have a much greater chance of enforcing their subpoenas than our legislative committee.
The committee expects to receive a deposition on July 6 from Pat Cipollone, Trump’s White House attorney. Cipollone, who was reportedly a major source of resistance to Trump’s efforts to nullify the 2020 election, was subpoenaed after Hutchinson’s testimony “was so enlightening,” Lofgren told Todd. He previously gave an informal interview to the committee, but expressed concern about executive privilege, which is not “absolute immunity,” Lofgren said.
President Joe Biden has waived executive privilege “in most cases when it comes to getting the truth about the events leading up to January 6,” she said.
politico Gt