- Committee heard that Trump intended to pardon supporters after January 6 incident.
- Trump did deliver a speech in which pardons for rioters were not mentioned.
- Several Trump advisers expressed fear that the 25th amendment, which would remove the president and replace him with the vice president could be used.
A congressional committee has learned that Donald Trump intended to announce his plan to pardon rioters at the US Capitol the day after the violence on January 6, 2017.
Read More: IBM has begun a ‘orderly wind-down’ of its Russia business: Arvind Krishna
Cassidy Hutchinson, who works for Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, told a congressional committee formed to examine the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 that the president intended to pardon the rioters in a speech the following day.
After releasing a video on January 6 encouraging his supporters to vacate the Capitol, “He wanted to include that he was considering pardoning them,” said Hutchinson, who added that Trump was reluctant to say more than he already had. “He didn’t think they did anything wrong, but Mike Pence did something wrong by not standing with him that day,” he said.
Read More: BofA thinks S&P 500 may drop another 23% in worst-case scenario
In a meeting that included Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, several Trump advisers expressed fear that the past president did not sufficiently condemn the violence and that the 25th amendment, which would remove the president and replace him with the vice president, could be used.
Trump did deliver a speech in which pardons for rioters were not mentioned.
Hutchinson stated that both Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and Meadows showed interest in presidential pardons linked to the January 6, 2021 events.
