The witness was a star, but not TNT

Surprise!

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was going to take a few weeks off, but stumbled into something it thought so explosive, it called a Special Added Attraction Assembly for Tuesday afternoon.

To this neutral observer outside the Beltway, there was a juicy hamburger on the barbecue, but the propane didn’t explode. I did not see the necessity for a special hearing.

There were three highlights in the first hour of testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, chief aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the one and only witness, who reported what she heard first hand, and what she was told, which is second-hand. She was wallpaper in many important meetings. 

The tabloid highlights were President Donald J. Trump’s explosive temper.

The legal highlight was his staff’s knowledge prior to Jan. 6 that there was a high likelihood of violence. We’ll get to that in a moment. 

All the following is based on the testimony of Hutchinson, a Trump loyalist.

When the movie gets made, and it will, look for the scene in which a furious Trump fights with his Secret Service agent for the steering wheel of the Beast, the president’s heavily armored Cadillac limousine. (It reminds me of the reported midnight scene of President Richard M. Nixon talking  to the White House portrait of President Abraham Lincoln.)

Why was Trump so angry? After his Jan. 6 speech, Trump wanted to march on the Capitol with his supporters, as he told them he would. There was some discussion at one point of Trump actually entering the House chamber. (House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had sent word, “Don’t come up here!”)

Any idea of him walking with his supporters to the Capitol was shot down by the Secret Service immediately. When he got into the Beast, he thought he would be driven there. “I’m the American president! Take me to the Capitol right now!”

That did not happen.

The other highlight — or lowlight, depending on your point of view — was Trump’s destruction of the People’s Crockey in the White House.

After hearing Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with the AP, in which he said there was negligible fraud in the election, Trump exploded and threw his lunch against the wall, leaving ketchup stains.

He did things like this “several times,” said Hutchinson, along with yanking the tablecloth to crash plates and glasses to the floor.

That’s funny to some, but there were revelations of more substance.

After Jan. 6, Hutchinson said, things were so bad several Cabinet members were discussing the XXV Amendment, which allows for the removal of an impaired president. Two Cabinet Secretaries resigned — Labor’s Elaine Chao and Education’s Betsy DeVos.

On Jan. 6, two Fox News Trumpsters, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, both demanded that Trump call off the mob, with Hannity warning that the XXV Amendment is “real.” Ivanka Trump and Don Jr. both called on their father to step up and stop it.

While the riot was going on, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows remained curiously detached, according to Hutchinson. Both Meadows and Rudy Giuliani requested pardons, she said, which shows an inference of guilt on their part, but that does not necessarily attach to Trump.

After repeated calls, Trump finally issued a wishy-washy statement asking his supporters to leave the Capitol.

While it has been reported before that no one who breached the Capitol had a firearm, we learned that some of his other supporters were armed.

Prior to his speech, Trump was angered by the small crowd in front of the stage (and in camera view).

He wanted more supporters allowed in for the cameras and was told those who were armed refused to pass through the metal detectors, called magnetometers.

“I don’t f’n care that they have weapons,” Hutchinson quoted him as saying. They’re not here to hurt me . . . Take the f’n mags away.”

She testified as early as Jan. 3, White House staffers and security people were aware some of those planning to come to the Jan. 6 rally might cause trouble.

Knowing that, I wonder why the Capitol police were not better prepared. There was also no testimony that Trump encouraged the planned violence.

That he delayed so long in calling off the dogs suggests that he didn’t care that much, but is that a crime?

Dereliction of duty? Maybe.

Clearly a loyal Republican, Hutchinson’s fealty to Trump ended when the president learned that the crowd was chanting,”Hang Mike Pence” and he responded, “Maybe Mike deserved it.”

Hutchinson said that was “unpatriotic” and “unAmerican.”

I agree, but is all of what he did actually criminal? Did the surprise witness get it done?