Here’s what some Americans think.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows could emerge from the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s public hearings as the biggest loser.
Unexpectedly, the former Chief of Staff has had the most unflattering recollections of his time as Chief of Staff in the days leading up to Jan. 6, but none of the revelations about Meadows’ actions — or lack thereof — have been as devastating as that of his special assistant Cassidy Hutchinson.
Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday (June 28) depicted Meadows as an indifferent man that not only failed to intervene at critical moments but also spent that time scrolling on his phone.
This testimony is the most concrete recollection of Meadows’ apathy but isn’t the first time someone publicly noted Meadows’ apparent incompetency for the role he had.
In January 2021, Chris Whipple, the author of a book about White House Chiefs of Staff, wrote an op-ed declaring Meadows to be the worst Chief of Staff in history.
In an interview the day after Hutchinson gave her explosive testimony, Whipple reiterated his earlier claims, pointing to Hutchinson for revealing that Meadows “wasn’t just a sycophant or missing in action when he should have been telling the president hard truths, he was a co-conspirator.”
In her testimony, Hutchinson portrayed Meadows as aloof, uninterested, and generally disengaged but aware enough to understand the ramifications of Trump’s claims of election fraud.
Hutchinson testified how she relayed to Meadows comments made by Rudy Giuliani about Trump looking “powerful” at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
This happened on Jan. 2, 2021, but according to Hutchinson, Meadows “said something to the effect of, ‘there’s a lot going on, Cass, but I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6,” while scrolling on his phone.
Other damaging testimony about Meadows’ behavior included Hutchinson recalling how when Tony Ornato informed Meadows about the number of people gathering near the White House for Trump’s speech at the Ellipse — some carrying weapons — Meadows didn’t look up from his phone.
