Donald Trump did not mind that protesters were carrying weapons during the storming of the US parliament, the Capitol in Washington. The then president was told on January 6 last year that protesters near the White House were armed.
Despite this, he wanted security to clear the area and the crowd to march toward the nearby Capitol, said Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to the White House chief of staff.
She testified on Tuesday in an extra session before a parliament committee investigating the notorious riots and insurgency in the Capitol, reports The Washington Post.
Trump brushed aside concerns over reports that protesters were armed with rifles, pistols, knives, brass knuckles and other weapons, Hutchinson said.
Trump: ‘They won’t hurt me’
Trump told his staff that security measures needed to be lifted so that even more people could come. He also wanted the crowd to march toward the Capitol, Hutchinson said. “They’re not here to hurt me,” Trump said.
After an inciting speech shortly before the storm, Trump thought he could still take his supporters to the Capitol with his supporters. Once in his limousine, he was told by the head of his secret service that that was no longer possible, Hutchinson said.
President attacked own security
Trump, she said, “reacted furiously” and tried to grab the wheel, while shouting that he absolutely wanted to go to the Capitol, Hutchinson quoted a colleague as saying. Finally, they went back to the White House.
Trump responded to the testimony via his own social media channel, saying he “barely knows” Hutchinson. According to him, she is “completely fake”.
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