Former Meadows aide ‘covered new ground’ in recent deposition, source says

CNN

By Jim Acosta, CNN

A former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows “covered new ground” this week in her deposition before the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a source familiar with the meeting said.

Cassidy Hutchinson was subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee on Tuesday. It was her third session answering the panel’s questions.

The source familiar with Hutchinson’s deposition declined to offer many details about the meeting to avoid getting ahead of the committee’s findings from its investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

But the source said Hutchinson spent time going over “new ground” during the session.

During her second meeting with the committee, Hutchinson disclosed that Meadows was directly warned of potential violence on January 6.

She also told the panel that GOP members of Congress discussed ways to overturn the election results, despite warnings from the White House counsel’s office that those proposals were not lawful.

“I know that people had brought information forward to (Meadows) that had indicated that there could be violence on the 6th,” she previously told the committee. “But, again, I’m not sure if he — what he did with that information internally,” the committee said she had testified.

According to the source, Hutchinson believes she is being forced to testify as a result of Meadows’ refusal to comply with a subpoena from the committee. The committee has narrowed what it wants to ask Meadows, CNN previously reported, as it has continued to press for more documents and testimony from the key January 6 witness in the Trump White House.

The House committee had sought out Hutchinson last year when it subpoenaed a group of former officials with close ties to Trump. Hutchinson was a special assistant for legislative affairs and an adviser to Meadows. Hutchinson was also privy to Meadows’ efforts to speak to others about investigating fraud after the 2020 election.

According to text messages relayed by the January 6 committee, Donald Trump Jr., Fox News personalities and lawmakers unsuccessfully implored Meadows on January 6 to get President Donald Trump to stop the violence unfurling at the US Capitol.

In December, the House voted to hold Meadows in contempt over his refusal to appear before the January 6 panel, referring the matter to the Justice Department.

The source said Hutchinson is likely to appear before the committee again, perhaps during the panel’s upcoming public hearings expected this summer.

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