Ex-President Donald Trump acknowledged he lost the 2020 election before the Capitol riot, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy apparently told a former White House aide (Picture: AP)
Former President Donald Trump apparently acknowledged to a Republican leader that he lost the 2020 election before the January 6 Capitol riot, it has been revealed.
Trump’s private acknowledgement to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy surfaced in an interview that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave to the panel investigating the insurrection.
The House select committee disclosed Hutchinson’s interview on Thursday, the same day they were expected to release their full report investigating the Capitol riot.
Hutchinson in her September 14 interview recounted multiple calls with McCarthy leading up to the assault on the Capitol. McCarthy told her that he feared that then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was not preparing Trump enough to accept the election results.
The January 6 committee released former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s interview on Thursday (Picture: AP)
‘What’s Mark thinking?’ Hutchinson said McCarthy told her in a call between January 2 and 5, 2021. ‘He’s giving the president bad advice.’
Trump acknowledged his defeat repeatedly behind closed doors but would quickly change his mind and say there was possibly a way for him to stay in the Oval Office, Hutchinson said McCarthy told her.
McCarthy said, ‘I can only imagine that’s coming from Mark’, according to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson also told the January 6 committee that a lawyer aligned with Trump tried to influence her testimony.
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot held its final meeting on Monday (Credits: Reuters)
‘We just want to focus on protecting the president,’ Hutchinson said former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino told her. ‘We all know you’re loyal. Let’s just get you in and out, and this day will be easy, I promise.’
Passantino represented Hutchinson in her early communications with the House panel. Hutchinson was one of the standout witnesses of the committee, which probed the insurrection for 18 months.
The committee on Monday held its final meeting, during which it voted unanimously to release its final report and issued four criminal referrals against Trump to the Justice Department.
Trump after the criminal referrals wrote on his Truth Social platform: ‘These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, the people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.’
As of Thursday evening, the committee had not yet released its full 800-page report.
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The January 6 committee disclosed an interview about Trump acknowledging his loss on Thursday and is expected to release its full report.
