Former aide to Mark Meadows Cassidy Hutchinson spent time Monday night with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow talking about her book “Enough,” being released today.
Several new nuggets of information came from the interview.
Imploring Republicans in what she calls a make-or-break moment for the party, Hutchinson says coming forward against Trump should not be hard.
“I think it’s extremely disappointing, and it’s not a hard issue to take. We’re talking about a man who at the very essence of his being almost destroyed democracy in one day and he wants to do it again. He wants to run for President to do it again,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson considers herself still a Republican, but more of a Mitt Romney/Ronald Reagan Republican. She says Trump is not a “strong Republican.”
Hutchinson recounts six occasions when Republicans groped or creeped on her in her time at in the Trump administration.
- One was Rudy Giuliani, who slid his hand up her blazer and skirt on January 6.
- Another was Mike McKenna, who would “single out other women” and make crude comments.
- Another was former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who told Hutchinson to “lose the ponytail” and only drink red wine from then on.
- Trump also told her to add blonde highlights to her hair, and she followed his instruction.
But two of those events involved Matt Gaetz.
“He chuckled and brushed his thumb across my chin,” Hutchinson said of Gaetz. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a national treasure?”
She goes on to describe a night at Camp David when Gaetz rolled up at Hutchinson’s cabin and was seen by Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who opened the door to a neighboring cabin. McCarthy asked him what he wanted, and he said he was lost and asked if Hutchinson could “escort me to my cabin.”
“Get a life, Matt,” McCarthy told Gaetz.
Gaetz responded that he and Hutchinson dated for a few months.
Hutchinson overheard Trump repeating “hang” from the dining room on January 6.
As Hutchinson brings a phone with Jim Jordan waiting to speak to her boss Mark Meadows, who is in the room where Trump’s television is blasting the insurrection coverage, she listens in.
The TV in the oval dining room is blaring. The president is yelling.
What is he saying? I can’t make it out. I hear him say “hang” repeatedly. Hang? Hang? What’s that about? Mark hands his phone back to me. The cue for me to return to my desk.
CNN had many more details.