The Delegitimization of Cassidy Hutchinson has begun
But, it's largely not impressing anyone outside of MAGA-world
Facebook lit up with the trashing of Cassidy Hutchinson. Hardly surprising, but the pushback from Old Guard conservatives, anti-Trump Republicans, and a handful of far-Right activists muted its effectiveness. Much of that is due to the minority on the January 6th Committee1. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) coming in with impeccable conservative credentials and voting records.
The primary attack was a bizarre rant about the testimony she recounted about Donald Trump grabbling the steering wheel and/or lunging at the driver of his Secret Service escort on January 6th. She was told this by Anthony Ornato, Deputy Chief of Staff.
One Facebook poster claimed the story came from a low level staffer. When yours truly pointed out the source of the story, the disassembling went to a discussion of the impossibility of doing that in The Beast (the White House limo). When it was pointed out Trump was actually in a Secret Service SUV, the consersation questioned why Ornato would be privy to such information.
Anthony Ornato is a former Secret Service agent. Donald Trump loves to be loved. Ornato was a Trump acolyte while serving on Trump’s White House detail, so Trump promoted him to Deputy Chief of Staff — one cannot have too many cheerleaders when you are being drubbed in the game.
Another Facebooker pointed out the willingness of Ornato and the agent driving the SUV to dispute the story. Ornato has already been subpoenaed and it is not going to be limited to just the “Trump attacking his driver” story. And the driver cannot testify. The Secret Service has a rule about telling tales out of school — they are pretty steamed at Ornato for doing so.
The second attack is that Cassidy Hutchinson testimony is hearsay. Or so said Jim Jordan (R-OH). Jim Jordan, who is a person of interest in the January 6th Insurrection, has been relentlessly criticized for covering up a sex scandal while he was a wrestling coach at Ohio State. A legal expert schooled Jordan on hearsay and used the sex scandal as an object lesson2. Once that Twitter brandishing of swords was done, Jordan slunk back in defeat.
The latest attack is that the January 6th Committee is partisan and biased. Admittedly so. Virtually every witness has been Republican and the questioners in chief have been Republicans as well.
Oh and there has been grumbling about the make-up of the Committee, particularly the minority side. But that’s been an exercise in finger-pointing at Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)3.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/30/jan-6-committee-rallies-around-hutchinson-amid-trump-world-onslaug
An excellent read. https://www.salon.com/2022/06/29/legal-expert-uses-ohio-state-wrestling-scandal-to-school-jim-jordan-on-jan-6-hearsay-evidence_partner/
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/kevin-mccarthy-january-6-committee-we-cannot-just-sweep-this-under-the-rug