The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots has gotten around stonewalling by Donald Trump's inner circle by turning to their aides and deputies.
Some of the panel's most significant findings have come from staffers who were present or briefed on top-level meetings, including Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson and Jeffery Clark adviser Ken Klukowski, who have helped congressional investigators understand how the former president tried to overturn his election loss, reported Politico.
“We are definitely taking advantage of the fact that most senior-level people in Washington depend on a lot of young associates and subordinates to get anything done,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the select committee. “A lot of these people still have their ethics intact and don’t want to squander the rest of their careers for other people’s mistakes and corruption.”
Hutchinson, in particular, has given the panel hundreds of pages of testimony that has given the panel deep insight into phone calls Meadows arranged and identified numerous Republican lawmakers who participated in those meetings, and she told investigators that the White House counsel's office pushed back on conspiracy theories promoted by members of Congress and Trump allies.
“Almost all, if not all, meetings Mr. Trump had, I had insight on,” Hutchinson told the panel.
Hutchinson has given the committee details about Meadows' activities on Jan. 6, and another aide, Ben Williamson, told investigators when the White House became aware of the violence taking place at the U.S. Capitol, and that cooperation has allowed the panel to whittle down the questions it wants the former White House chief of staff to answer.
“We know so much more than we did then,” said Doug Letter, the House's top lawyer, during a hearing on Meadows' lawsuit to block the committee's subpoena.