A former Donald Trump administration official said she is worried about Cassidy Hutchinson’s safety after she gave the January 6 committee’s most damning testimony yet against the former president.
Ms Hutchinson, a former White House aide, provided first-hand knowledge of what she saw and heard in the run-up to the US capitol riots at a surprise hearing on Tuesday of the select committee probing the insurrection.
Olivia Troy, who had served as the homeland security adviser to former vice president Mike Pence, said Ms Hutchinson’s life will never be the same again after her revelations about Mr Trump’s behaviour during the events of the 6 January insurrection.
“I am grateful for people like Cassidy who are out there telling the truth about what the reality was in the days and aftermath of the election,” Ms Troy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday.
She said it is “frustrating” and anguishing at times to watch people continue “to enable such a dangerous individual who has proven to be dangerous time and time again”.
“And look, Cassidy, her life will be forever changed. My life will never be the same,” she said, adding that they had “stood up for our country” and spoke the truth.
She said the people testifying against Mr Trump before the House select committee have been receiving threats or are being bullied or intimidated.
“People will say, you know, oh there is nothing heroic about that – you worked in the Trump administration. Well, you are hearing about the intimidation of witnesses, you are hearing about the bullying.
“There is no doubt there are going to be threats on Cassidy’s life. I am worried about her safety.”
Ms Troy added that she and Alyssa Farah Griffin, another former Trump-era White House official present at the CNN programme, had received threats as well.
The panel’s surprise hearing, in which alarming new testimony was delivered, painted a picture of an erratic and defiant Mr Trump in the events surrounding the riot at the Capitol.
Ms Hutchinson said Mr Trump had grabbed the steering wheel of his presidential limousine in an effort to go to the Capitol to join his supporters and ignored the warnings of his chief of staff who said things could get “real, real bad”.
She also told the panel that Mr Trump threw his lunch against the wall when his then-attorney general Bill Barr knocked down claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election.
“They’re not here to hurt me. Take the [f**king] mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here,” she recalled Mr Trump as saying.
