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For: The Opinion Updated 25 May 2022 , 25: 17 pm EDT
The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on 2021 against the Capitol collected testimony that The then White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, commented to others that then President Donald Trump indicated his support for hanging Vice President Mike Pence after the protesters who stormed the Capitol that day began chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”
The account of the Meadows comment that characterizes Trump’s reaction to his vice president at the times was provided to the committee by at least one witness, according to people familiar with the investigation, but those people did not describe the tone in which the comment was made. They spoke on condition of anonymity to be more candid about a sensitive issue, according to CNN.
Cassidy Hutchinson, Meadows’s former assistant, also testified that Trump complained that his then vice president was taken to a safe place as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, sources said.
Hutchinson answered questions from the panel during three separate sessions, CNN previously reported. And he reviewed “new ground” with the committee last week, though it was not immediately clear what was discussed during that statement.
Trump’s Taylor Budowich said the “vague leaks” from the “partisan” committee are “just an extension of the Democratic smear campaign that has been exposed over and over again as fabricated and dishonest,” adding that “Americans are tired of the Democratic campaign”, but unfortunately “it is the only thing they have to offer”.
A spokesman for the select committee of the Chamber investigating the insurrection of January 6, 2021 refused to comment on both matters, which were reported for the first time once by The New York Times.
An attorney for Meadows declined to comment to CNN. An attorney for Hutchinson also did not respond to requests for comment.
At a rally that preceded the Capitol riots, Trump told the crowd: “Mike Pence, I hope you stand up for the good of our Constitution and the good of our country.”
After Pence said he did not believe he had the authority to reject Electoral College votes, Trump tweeted that
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what that should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states the opportunity to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones that they were previously asked to certify. The United States demands the truth!”
Videos from the Capitol during the riots show a man with a megaphone, reading the tweet aloud to other assailants. Inside, rioters swarmed the hallways and chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.”
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