A former White House official told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had been advised of intelligence reports showing the potential for violence that day, according to transcripts released late Friday night.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a special assistant in the Trump White House, told the committee “there were concerns brought forward” to Meadows ahead of the riot but it was unclear what Meadows did with that information.
“I just remember Mr. Ornato coming in and saying that we had intel reports saying that there could potentially be violence on the 6th,” Hutchinson said, presumably referencing Anthony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official. “And Mr. Meadows said: ‘All right. Let’s talk about it.’”
The filing Friday is the latest volley in a months-long legal fight over the extent to which Meadows, a close Trump ally whose proximity to the president has made him a key target of House Democrats, can be forced to cooperate with the committee’s investigation. Though Meadows supplied the committee with thousands of text messages, he refused to sit for an interview, argued that he was immune from having to testify by virtue of his White House position and instead sued the committee.
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