Former aide says Trump has ‘learned nothing’ from Jan. 6

A former Trump White House aide lamented Tuesday that former President Trump has “learned nothing” from the events of Jan. 6, 2021, after he urged supporters to protest his potential indictment in New York City.

Sarah Matthews, who worked on the Trump campaign and in the White House as deputy press secretary, said on CNN that she’s “definitely worried” about the former president’s language leading up to potential charges against him over a hush-money payment, though she downplayed the likelihood of violence similar to what occurred two years ago.

“I think it goes to show he’s learned nothing in the aftermath of Jan. 6,” Matthews said. “The rhetoric he was using was similar to the rhetoric he used around Jan. 6. I think in his Truth Social post he said that they needed to protest to ‘take back our nation.’”

“I do think at the same time we’re probably not going to see the same response from his supporters that we saw regarding Jan. 6,” she added. “I don’t think it’s going to be the same level.”

Matthews resigned from her job in the Trump White House on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, after rioters violently stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of the 2020 election and Trump waited hours to urge them to leave. She testified last year at a hearing of the House select committee investigating the riots.

A Manhattan grand jury could indict Trump as early as Wednesday on charges over a hush-money payment to cover up an alleged affair during the 2016 election. 

Trump over the weekend predicted he would be arrested on Tuesday and urged supporters to “protest, take our nation back!”

In a separate post, Trump bemoaned what he described as the decline of the country, writing: “They’re killing our nation as we sit back & watch. We must save America! Protest, Protest, Protest!!!”

The rhetoric has alarmed some onlookers, who likened it to his calls for supporters to travel to Washington, D.C., ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, when he promised it “will be wild.”