The testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about former President Donald Trump’s behavior on and around Jan. 6 should keep him away from office again, according to the editorial board of a conservative outlet.
The Washington Examiner’s editorial board published an editorial titled, “Trump proven unfit for power again.”
“Hutchinson’s Tuesday testimony ought to ring the death knell for former President Donald Trump’s political career. Trump is unfit to be anywhere near power ever again,” the board argued.
It went on to suggest that Hutchinson’s “resume alone should establish her credibility” as it pointed out that she previously worked for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)
“What Hutchinson relayed was disturbing. She gave believable accounts of White House awareness that the planned Jan. 6 rally could turn violent. She repeated testimony that Trump not only knew that then-Vice President Mike Pence’s life had been credibly threatened that day but also that he was somewhere between uncaring and actually approving of Pence’s danger,” the editorial stated.
Am told this is the farthest the official editorials of the Washington Examiner have ever gone in ruling out Trump for the future: https://t.co/2jtSbS32hF
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) June 29, 2022
It continued:
“She also told, in detail, that Trump repeatedly insisted that he himself should join his supporters at the Capitol — even after being informed the crowd contained armed elements and that it was breaching the perimeter against an undermanned U.S. Capitol Police force.”
The editorial also noted that Hutchinson shared “accounts of Trump’s repeated fits of rage, including dining table contents overturned and ketchup dishes thrown violently across the room.”
Included in the editorial is another story Hutchinson told, which she claimed to have second-hand, that Trump at one point tried “to grab the wheel of the car to force it to be driven to the Capitol and then violently reaching for the neck of Secret Service agent Bobby Engel, who headed the president’s protective detail.”
However, the story has been called into question as it has been reported that Secret Service agents are prepared to testify that the incident never happened.
Additionally, the aide who allegedly told Hutchinson the story denies that he did.
The Examiner’s editorial stated, “Hutchinson’s testimony confirmed a damning portrayal of Trump as unstable, unmoored, and absolutely heedless of his sworn duty to effectuate a peaceful transition of presidential power.”
“Considering the entirety of her testimony, it is unsurprising that Hutchinson said she heard serious discussions of Cabinet members invoking the 25th Amendment that would have at least temporarily evicted Trump from office,” it continued.
Finally, it added, “Trump is a disgrace. Republicans have far better options to lead the party in 2024. No one should think otherwise, much less support him, ever again.
Trump denied Hutchinson’s account, which he called a “fake story.”
He also claimed Hutchinson is a “total phony” and a leaker.”
