Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, recently joined Rachel Maddow on Monday night for her first sit-down media interview while promoting her new book, which is out this week via Media Ite.
Maddow began the lengthy interview by reading an excerpt from Hutchinson’s book, her moment by moment retelling of when she realized that former President Donald Trump was “okay” with the rioters on Jan. 6th hanging his then Vice President Mike Pence.
Hutchinson has written about Meadows’s panicked behavior in the White House during the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and at one point she interrupts him meeting with Trump in the Oval Office to hand him a phone call from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
“I open the door to get his attention. The group is having a heated conversation about the rioters. Mark sees me. I point at the phone screen where Jim’s caller ID is visible. He comes over to take the phone, propping the door open with his body as he talks to Jim. I take a few steps back as Mark takes my place in the doorway and I strain to listen to both conversations,” Maddow reads from the book, adding:
“The TV in the Oval in the Oval Dining room is blaring. The president is yelling. What’s he saying? I can’t make it out. I hear [Trump] say, ‘hang’ repeatedly. ‘Hang, hang.’ What’s that about? Mark hands his phone back to me. The cue for me to return to my desk back in my office, my phone notifies me of a Trump tweet, ‘Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth.’
Hutchinson continues. I’m struggling to process what’s happening as Mark, Pat Cipollone, Pat Philbin, and Eric Herschman stumble back to the office. I overhear their conversation and suddenly everything makes sense. They are calling for the vice president to be hanged. The president is okay with it. He doesn’t want to do anything. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. He thinks Mike is a traitor. This is crazy. We need to be doing something more.
My phone is pinging nonstop with emails, texts, signal messages, and unanswered calls. Mark, phone. Mark’s phones are too. I am devoid of emotion as I consider what I should do and then letting what I just heard sink in. I’m gripped with anger and hurt. I snatch my coat. I run out of the office to go to the Eisenhower Building. I need to check in with Mark’s Secret Service detail. We need to have a plan in case the worst happens. In case this is the beginning of a coup.
“That is from Cassidy, Hutchinson’s new book, which is called “Enough,” which is out tomorrow. Ms. Hutchinson, it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for being here,” Maddow then says to begin the interview.
Maddow begins by asking Hutchinson about her own personal safety following her public testimony before the House January 6th Committee.
“It’s been difficult in a lot of ways, but it’s also it’s open. This year has helped me open my eyes to the dangers that Trump actually poses on people in these situations. And I’m not the only one, and I wish I could say I would be the last person, but unfortunately, I won’t,” Hutchinson replied, concluding:
And that’s what he does to people that he thinks that speak out against or that detract from him. And it’s one of the more dangerous things about Donald Trump, too. This is something that we’ve seen time and time again, and it shouldn’t have to be like this.
