Mulvaney: ‘Things could get very dark’ for Trump after Hutchinson testimony

Former White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney predicted “things could get very dark” for former President Trump after the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 rioting held an explosive hearing on Tuesday that showed Trump intimidated witnesses who testified before the panel.

Mulvaney, who resigned from the Trump administration on Jan. 6, 2021, wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today that if Trump or members of his team did intimidate witnesses, they’d have a strong case for criminal prosecution.

“The implication was crystal clear: The Jan. 6 committee members believe they have evidence
that people within the Trump operation attempted to intimidate witnesses,” Mulvaney wrote in his opinion piece. “And that, anyway you slice it, is obstruction of justice.”

Tuesday’s hearing saw surprise testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, who told the House panel that Trump encouraged armed rioters to head toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

She also said the former president physically assaulted a member of his security detail and lunged for the steering wheel when the guard refused to drive him to the U.S. Capitol.

The House panel also showed statements from unnamed witnesses who described a pressure campaign from Trump’s team ahead of their testimony to the committee.

Before Hutchinson’s testimony, Mulvaney said he did not believe Trump was criminally liable for the attempted insurrection, even if he was morally wrong. That changed immediately for him after the hearing on Tuesday.

“I found her testimony imminently credible,” Mulvaney wrote. “After some of the bombshells that got dropped in that hearing, my guess is that things could get very dark for the former president.”

But the former White House staffer said while the “press is most likely to focus on the most sensational allegations” of the hearing, such as Cassidy’s testimony, he did not believe that was the most compelling part.

Allegations that members of Trump’s team intimidated witnesses who testified to the House panel is the most troubling complication for Trump, Mulvaney added.

“Even if Donald Trump were as innocent as the virgin snow [on] Jan. 6, even if he didn’t know about the guns, or didn’t assault his agent, or had absolutely no clue what the Proud Boys were up to,” Mulvaney wrote, “If he obstructed justice related to the Jan. 6 hearings, then he could well become just the next politician to learn the hard lesson that it usually isn’t the crime. It’s the cover-up.”