Washington– In her new book “Enough” former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Hutchinson reveals that the final days of the Trump White House were even more chaotic and lawless than what she disclosed in her shocking television testimony last summer. President Donald Trump was unexpectedly ruthless and made wild claims. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows secretly gathered documents from friendly media personalities and burned them. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani improperly pressured Hutchinson on the day of the Capitol insurrection.
They also cast a shadow over prominent Republican figures, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, making it clear that they were avoiding telling the American public the truth: that Biden won the presidential election and Trump lost.
These hints suggest that sanity was not the order of the day; it was present right from the beginning. Hutchinson told Trump in June 2020, “Boss, if I can get through this and keep you out of jail, I’ll do a good job.”
A Candid Account of Trump’s Final Year in Office
Hutchinson’s book covers the meteoric rise of her weathered career from an idealistic Capitol Hill intern to an indispensable aide to the Chief of Staff at the White House during Trump’s last year in office. Hutchinson’s, who provided testimony before a congressional committee on January 6th, provided the most damaging insider account of Trump’s actions – and inaction – during the Capitol riot, detailing his inner turmoil over what happened at the end of his administration and how he ultimately chose to move forward. And she gives a full account of what she saw in West Wing.
Hutchinson describes Trump’s world as almost like that of a criminal organization, where loyalty is prioritized above all else. After an election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, amid the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, she and GOP’s former presidential hopeful Herman Cain fell victim to the virus, and he died.
“We killed Herman Cain,” Meadows told Hutchinson and asked for his wife’s phone number.
Meadows’ spokesperson disputed Hutchinson’s account in a statement. The spokesperson said it was unfair for Hutchinson to attribute Meadows’ initial reaction to Mr. Cain’s death. “These days when they were bemoaning that the media would blame the President for Mr. Cain’s death. Very different,” the spokesperson said.
She did little to change the White House’s attitude towards masking. In fact, during a visit to the N-95 plant, Hutchinson advised Trump to take off his mask before facing the cameras because his bronzer was causing a foul odor on the mask’s elastic straps. In another example of disregard for safety after the election, visitors to the White House who had tested positive for COVID were allowed in because Trump insisted on meeting them.
These ethical lapses, or perhaps their scarcity, were taken to the forefront of the campaign, where, Hutchinson writes, Meadows met with Hunter Biden’s former business associate Tony Bobulinski indiscreetly while efforts were underway to shield the public’s eyes from the actions of covert agents.
Inside Trump’s Chaotic Final Days (Witness to Lawlessness)
Hutchinson had not questioned those men meaningfully until after the election, but even then, it was delayed. As soon as Trump saw Giuliani’s ill-fated press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, he shouted, according to Hutchinson’s , “Someone stop him! Get him off! Stop him!”
However, she stated, “I preferred not to reveal that we had been defeated,” when speaking with Trump. “It’s embarrassing. Find it.”
Afterward, when Meadows convinced Trump to work on it with her, Hutchinson was disappointed not with Trump for falsely encouraging her but with Trump for making the demand that his deception be made reality, not with Trump for making the demand that his deception be made real.
Hutchinson’s claim that Trump admitted to her that he had lost in front of Meadows is the latest in a series of revelations from eyewitnesses who gave testimony under oath during federal investigations and the Fulton County grand jury, although no individual was implicated in Trump’s actions.
Hutchinson says the White House had turned completely towards lawlessness in its final weeks, with Meadows regularly burning documents to the point where the Chief of Staff’s office was filled with smoke. During one meeting, as smoke billowed from Hutchinson’s office, GOP’s former Representative Devin Nunes asked Hutchinson’s , “How many times is he going to burn these documents?” In January 2021, when Meadows’ wife came to help her pack up her office, she pleaded with Hutchinson’s , “There’s no need to burn anything more, Mark. She’s bringing everything out like groceries.”
Meadows’ spokesperson called Hutchinson’s account a “laughable, false statement.”
“Ms. Meadows was explaining the common practice of starting the wood-burning fireplace in the Chief of Staff’s office, which often involves using old newspapers,” the spokesperson said.
On that fateful day of December 18, 2020, when Trump discussed proposals to seize voting machines in the Oval Office, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato told Hutchinson that he had “heard the President talking about the Insurrection Act or martial law,” they write.
Trump’s Desperate Plans and Chaotic Capitol Hill Visit
Because senior members of the Trump administration, including National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, former Trump Attorney Sidney Powell, and former CEO of Overstock Patrick Byrne, attempted to persuade Medus to bring back the White House Chief, White House Secretary Derek Lyons asked, ‘Is there really a need for the Chief to return? Here’s what happened. Marshall Law.”
Those plans, indeed, didn’t materialize, and Trump sought other avenues to mitigate his electoral losses. He pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,870 votes to flip the state to him.
“That call wasn’t good,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told Medus, according to Hutchins, who writes that Cipollone was overheard on the call. Testifying before a committee on January 6th last year, Cipollone said he couldn’t recall anything about the call until he read about it in the press.
In one statement, Cipollone’s spokesperson disputed that he was on the Georgia call, noting that Cipollone wasn’t part of those Medus calls introduced at the beginning of the call. “I believe it’s a positive suggestion.” Following the election, with the unsuccessful coup attempt behind us, Hutchinson describes Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill as the final chapter of this scheme. “On New Year’s, (Medus) spoke to me about a possible motorcade movement towards Capitol Hill after the President’s rally,” she says. Trump commented, “I think the rally is going well. Do you think the Chief should return?” “Yes, sir,” Medus replied. “I think it would be okay.”
Hutchins has many stories about that day, which were part of her testimony. Trump knew the weapons his supporters were carrying – “the big guy knows,” Ornauto says, and at that point, Hutchinson still wasn’t sure if that was supposed to reassure her that Trump would do something to stop it. They describe an awkward moment when Trump told the President as he left: “Take (Metal Detector) downstairs… Look at all those people in the trees. They want to enter, so just let them in.” Let my people in. They are not here to hurt me.”
Giuliani’s Alleged Assault, Capitol Attack, and Hutchinson’s Controversial Role
Hutchinson alleges that Giuliani physically shoved her to the ground on the back stage of the rally right after that. (Giuliani has denied her allegation, calling it “ridiculous.”) She stormed off in anger. But that was nothing compared to the anger she felt later as she watched the attack on the Capitol and the deaths that followed, Hutchins writes.
As the Capitol attack unfolded, Hutchins said she had thoughts about what needed to be done – and feared it could be the start of a rebellion.
“If the worst happens, we need to have a plan. If this is the beginning of a rebellion,” she wrote.
That wasn’t enough, as Hutchinson remained part of Team Trump. Unlike White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, who resigned on December 3, 2020, or White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, who resigned on January 6, 2021, Hutchinson stayed.
Part of Hutchinson’s argument was that she saw herself as someone who could help keep the protocol intact for Trump, especially when Medus launched a surprise raid on Crossfire Hurricane’s ultra-secret documents, which contained highly classified documents related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation into possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 elections.
She was surprised when Medus handed over the secret documents to two media figures on her right, who regularly promote the MAGA line, as she alleges. Medusa’s spokesman has claimed that Hutchinson’s account is false and that the documents had already been declassified by Trump. The spokesman said White House lawyers had requested the return of the documents because they contained elements that needed to be corrected.
“It wasn’t related to classification; it concerned changes to the procedure,” the spokesperson explained. However, Hutchinson writes that Cipollone told her the documents were still filled with classified information, and he requested their return. Before she left to call Medus, Cipollone added, “Hey Cass, when you’re on the phone with her, can you tell her we can’t pardon Cumberland Gulf? My hands are tied. Please let my people in.”
“I was left speechless as I observed the abdomen and witnessed the stomach.” I could tell by his face that he was extremely serious,” she writes.
Hutchinson’s Journey Through Trump’s White House
According to the Capitol committee’s testimony, in the spring of 2020, Hutchinson, in her first year in the Trump White House, was an intern in Senator Ted Cruz’s office. By 2020, she was preparing to make the Texas Senator a tax return on Trump’s arrival in Texas, without an invitation, warning her that if she didn’t go, it would mark the “last presidential event you’d ever attend.”
Trump’s loyalists still target Hutchinson today because she attempted to work for the 45th president in Florida on January 6, 2021, and Hutchinson remains firm that she, who was never a fully vested assistant, was in charge, making it clear that she would not be part of the post-presidential action – a move that didn’t happen at the White House until his last three days. “Working for the President is something I liked,” Hutchinson says initially.
In this book, it’s a journey where Hutchinson decided she was an “observer” in the decisions made on January 6th. After sharing her harrowing upbringing – largely absent and ultimately abusive father – Hutchinson’s story is mostly about her time during the Trump era. Working at the White House, initially in legislative affairs, and later under Medus, she focused on assisting the President and being a “loyal foot soldier” in her mission.
Countless examples of Trump’s objectionable behavior are highlighted, as Hutchinson, who was once a faithful aide, saw him in the same way as she should have – especially when she included a 2019 phone call with Zelensky that ultimately led to her first impeachment and the 2020 Atlantic story that referred to American soldiers killed during the First World War as “losers” and “suckers.”
In the summer of 2017, her first year in Trump’s office, Hutchinson was an intern in Senator Ted Cruz’s office. By 2020, she was preparing to make the Texas Senator a tax return on Trump’s arrival in Texas, without an invitation, warning her that if she didn’t go, it would mark the “last presidential event you’d ever attend.”
Hutchinson’s Stand Against Post-Presidential Actions
Trump’s loyalists still target Hutchinson today because she attempted to work for the 45th president in Florida on January 6, 2021, and Hutchinson remains firm that she, who was never a fully vested assistant, was in charge, making it clear that she would not be part of the post-presidential action – a move that didn’t happen at the White House until his last three days.
The loyalists of Trump have thrown quite a few things at him to tarnish his image – for instance, their request for legal assistance, which he dismisses as “enough.”
On January 6th, the House committee had a lot to say about the suggestions to change Hutchinson’s lawyers due to the reasons behind these recommendations, particularly the first one, Stephen Passantino, who was pushing for a less truthful approach. Hutchins writes that Passantino encouraged complete cooperation. “No, no, no. We want to get you in and out,” he told her.
“We needed to minimize our role,” they insist rigorously. “I was an assistant, nothing more,” they write. “Stephen never told me to lie in front of the committee. ‘I don’t want you to lie,’ he insisted. ‘But ‘I don’t remember’ is not false testimony.’ Another time, he told her, ‘We just want to protect the president,’ they write.
This book also sheds light on a secret from the January 6 inquiry: How did the committee find out what Hutchins had told her about revealing her perjurious testimony when she was represented by a lawyer hired by Trump’s world? It turns out, Hutchins writes, that she reached out to Farah, who is now a political commentator, and told her everything she knew. Farah spoke with the committee’s Vice Chair Liz Cheney, who then knew what to ask Hutchins at the committee’s third closed-door session.
Employees are suspended, and then Hutchins is brought back to cooperate with the committee. Soon after, she becomes uncooperative, and then Trump’s world portrays her as a villain. They leave the question wide open: What would have happened historically if Trump and Meadows had trusted her and invited her to Mar-a-Lago?
However, Hutchinson’s courageous testimony did occur, so perhaps the more pressing question today is how many more witnesses are facing the current prosecution and investigation, along with the lawyers funded by Trump’s global financial support, dealing with the same situation.
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