Cassidy Hutchinson's Jan. 6 testimony could have 'extremely problematic' legal implications for Trump: Lawyer
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testimony before Jan. 6 committee 'incredibly damning' for Trump, lawyer says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tuesday's testimony by former a White House aide on the events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could have "incredibly problematic" legal implications for former President Trump, a former assistant U.S. attorney and criminal defense lawyer told Fox News.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, delivered explosive testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee hearing Tuesday, alleging that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the "Beast" presidential limo and lunged at the Secret Service agent in charge when he refused to take Trump to the Capitol on January 6.
During an interview on "Your World," attorney Alex Little said Hutchinson's testimony had a "great deal" of criminal implications for the former president, adding that Trump's alleged behavior in the Beast would prove "extremely problematic" for him in the event of a criminal trial.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JAN. 6 COMMITTEE: SURPRISE HEARING ADDED TUESDAY TO REVIEW ‘RECENTLY OBTAINED EVIDENCE’
Former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Cassidy Hutchinson testifies before the House Jan. 6 Committee on June 28, 2022, as Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., questions her. (Fox News)
"If you have a president who has been told don’t go to the Capitol, it's only going to inflame things, and he's so desperate to get there that he’s physically laying his hand on folks meant to protect him, I think that is pretty damning evidence that what was in the president’s mind was to get to the Capitol and subvert the will of the voters, at least as we understood it at the time. And that is incredibly problematic for him as we look at a criminal investigation," he said.
Little pointed to Hutchinson's testimony where she recalled a conversation between her former boss Meadows and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, in which Meadows said that Trump was happy with the rioters and believed former Vice President Mike Pence "deserved" the chants from rioters calling for his hanging.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That is pretty damning stuff when you put that in front of a criminal jury in a criminal trial," Little said, adding that there is "a whole avenue of criminal charges there that haven’t really been discussed," including potential charges of obstruction of justice and seditious conspiracy.
FILE - Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows listens during an announcement of the creation of a new South Carolina Freedom Caucus based on a similar national group at a news conference on April 20, 2022 in Columbia, S.C. Meadows accused the congressional committee investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol of leaking all of the text messages he provided to the panel in what he says was an effort to vilify him publicly. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)
Hutchinson also testified that Meadows and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani each sought pardons after Jan. 6., which suggests they were aware they were supporting something "improper," Little said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If I’m a prosecutor building a case, so much will be focused on the state of mind of these individuals when they take certain actions – did they know what they were doing with legal? Did they think it was legitimate? The fact that they’re openly discussing the president giving them pardons, sometimes blanket pardons over a period of time, suggests that they knew in their own mind what they were doing was improper," he said. "It will be incredibly damning evidence if this ever gets to a trial."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Trump on Tuesday denied that he tried to grab the steering wheel of the "Beast," calling Hutchinson's account "sick and fraudulent."