News
June 28, 2022 – 12:45 pm to 7:22 pm (ET)
PBS NewsHour – June 28, 2022 (03:54)
Former President Donald Trump fought security officials for control of the presidential SUV as he struggled to get to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, a key former White House aide told House investigators Tuesday, even after he had been told that some of his supporters were armed.
Trump had said that the protesters were “not here to hurt me,” recalled Cassidy Hutchinson, testifying before the House panel investigating the insurrection. Told by security officials that it wasn’t safe to go to the Capitol after he addressed his supporters, Trump lunged toward the steering wheel of the armored vehicle, she said.
The 25 year-old former aide said she was told of the altercation in the SUV — dubbed “The Beast” — immediately afterward by White House security officials, and that Bobby Engel, the head of the detail, was in the room and didn’t dispute the account. Engel had grabbed Trump’s arm to prevent him from gaining control of the armored vehicle, she was told, and Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Engel.
Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, ending an impasse that had clouded a leaders’ summit opening in Madrid amid Europe’s worst security crisis in decades, triggered by the war in Ukraine.
After urgent top-level talks with leaders of the three countries, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.” He called it “a historic decision.”
Among its many shattering consequences, President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-held nonaligned status and apply to join NATO as protection against an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia — which shares a long border with Finland. Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack against all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.
In Cassidy Hutchinson, the House select committee on January 6 has found its most compelling witness to date.
Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gave the committee and the American public a historically unrivaled look at a president unhinged, enraged and apparently willing to cross any line to remain in power. She provided a riveting firsthand look at wrongdoing by an astonishing range of powerful people, up to and including former President Donald Trump.
Hutchinson’s testimony landed like a bomb. She addressed several of the most pressing questions before the committee, including who knew what and who did what during the crucial moments before and during the January 6 Capitol attack. Hutchinson made clear that Trump did plan to go to the Capitol as the riot was unfolding on January 6, and testified that she was told he had lashed out physically — at one point grabbing for the steering wheel of his armored vehicle and then lunging at a Secret Service agent — when he was told he could not go.
June 28, 2022 – 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (ET)
