The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 aired their final hearing on Monday, during which they dropped a bombshell: Among their criminal referrals was four for Donald Trump himself. They also mentioned that a Trump-backed attorney attempted to sabotage arguably their biggest (or at least most shocking) witness: Cassidy Hutchinson. Now that person has been revealed.
As per CNN, Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, allegedly advised his then-client, Hutchinson, to give misleading testimony to the committee. Passantino reportedly told her to say she didn’t remember certain details, even if she did.
Instead she got another lawyer, and she delivered the biggest blockbuster of the hearings. Among her allegations were that Trump attacked a Secret Service agent who wouldn’t drive him to the Capital, where violent supporters were poised to storm the building; that Trump knew they were armed but didn’t care because “they’re not here to hurt me”; that at one point he got so angry that he threw ketchup-laden food everywhere; and more. Trump had one of his signature meltdowns over the testimony, as he’s wont to do when cornered.
Passantino denied giving his client terrible, illegal advice. After the allegations broke, his professional biography was scrubbed from the website of a firm where he’s a partner, and that he was on a “leave of absence.”
There were many concerns over witness tampering during the Jan. 6 hearings, and it seems with good cause.
So what happens next? Trump has famously weaseled out of everything; the only time he’s had to pay for his deeds was when he failed to get re-elected in 2020. For now, though, his life at Mar-a-Lago sounds pretty darn sad.
(Via CNN)