Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, recalled former President Donald Trump throwing a fit in the White House dining room, throwing a plate of his lunch at the wall after reading an interview with Attorney General Bill Barr, where he denied that the 2020 election was corrupt. Hutchinson said Trump threw his lunch at the wall on a number of occasions in her testimony on Tuesday, June 28.
"There was ketchup dripping off the wall" — Hutchinson testifies Trump literally threw his lunch against the wall after Bill Barr told the AP there was no evidence of election fraud sufficient to overturn the election pic.twitter.com/CFF2ghfzgk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 28, 2022
Hutchinson recalled going into the dining room and seeing “ketchup dripping down the wall and a shattered porcelain plate on the floor,” as she entered. “He was extremely angry at the Attorney General’s [Associated Press] interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall,” she said, saying that she tried to wipe down the wall. She said that the valet had said that Trump was “ticked off” after the interview. A deposition by Barr recalling Trump being angry with him, which led to him offering his resignation.
Committee Chair Liz Cheney asked if there were other instances where Trump threw dishes, and Hutchinson said there were others. “There were several times throughout my tenure with the chief of staff that I was aware of him either throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break,” she said.
Earlier in her testimony, Hutchinson recalled demands that Trump made before and after his speech on January 6, including claims that he had gotten physical with the head of his security detail, lunging at him, demanding to be taken to the Capitol. “The President said something to the effect of ‘I’m the F-ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,’” she said.
She also revealed that Trump demanded to Secret Service that his supporters be let into the Ellipse for his speech, going as far as telling them that they should remove “Mags” or metal detectors and let people in. She recalled him telling security, “Take the F-ing mags away. They’re not here to hurt me. Let them in. Let my people in,” according to her.
Hutchinson’s testimony comes during the sixth hearing on the January 6 attack from the House Select Committee. Hutchinson provided inside knowledge of Trump’s behavior during the day of the attack and in the midst of the invasion. Many others have testified to what it was like in different places during the attack, including a Capitol Police officer who was on the front lines defending the building from the rioters.
In the lead up to the January 6 attack, members of staff recalled conversations that Trump had with his Vice President Mike Pence, including one of Trump’s daughter Ivanka’s staff who said that she had told her that the president had called him a “p***y” during a phone call, before he went to certify the 2020 election. It was also revealed that insurrectionists (who had chanted phrases like “Hang Mike Pence”) had come within 40 feet of the vice president during the attack.