On Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump appeared to signal to the crowd of his supporters that he would join them in marching to the U.S. Capitol.
And according to a former White House aide who testified before the House committee investigating the riot, Trump was determined to drive to the Capitol and was very upset that he was taken back to the White House instead.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to the White House chief of staff at the time, told the committee in a surprise hearing on Tuesday that the former president believed he would be driven to the Capitol in the presidential limo.
āSo once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capitol. And when had relayed to him, weāre not, we donāt have the assets to do it, itās not secure. Weāre going back to the West Wing. The president had a very strong, very angry response to that,ā Hutchinson testified.
She continued, ā described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, āIām the f*****g president! Take me up to the Capitol now.ā To which Bobby responded, āSir, we have to go back to the West Wing.'ā
Watch the video below:
She went on:
āThe president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, āSir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. Weāre going back to the West Wing. Weāre not going to the Capitol.ā Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornato had recounted the story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.ā
Trump said in a speech shortly before the violence, āWeāre going to walk down, and Iāll be there with you.⦠We are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give ā the Democrats are hopeless, they are never voting for anything, not even one vote.
āBut we are going to give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones donāt need any of our help, weāre going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country,ā he added.
Hutchinson also testified that Trump was aware that people were armed that day. Still, he wanted metal detectors removed from the area where his rally that day was being held because āhe wanted it to be full and for people to not feel excluded because they had come far to watch him at the rally and he felt the were at fault.ā
āI overheard the president say something to the effect of āI donāt f*****g care they have weapons! Theyāre not here to hurt me! Take the f*****g away! They can March to the Capitol from here! Take the away!āā she added.
