Former President Trump told his then-chief of staff “this is embarrassing,” and “I don’t want people to know that we lost,” after the Supreme Court ruled against him on a key case about the 2020 election, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The Hutchinson’s testimony was revealed Thursday in what might be the Jan. 6 committee’s final public hearing.
The lawsuit considered by the Supreme Court in December 2020 was filed in Texas and challenged the presidential election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a member of the Jan. 6 panel, said Trump regarded the legal action as “his last chance at success in the courts.”
On Dec. 11, 2020, the Supreme Court said it would not take up the case.
Hutchinson was present for a conversation between Trump and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day the Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit, she told the panel in testimony presented Thursday.
“The president was fired up about the Supreme Court decision,” Hutchinson said during a previous deposition conducted behind closed doors.
“The president, just raging about the decision and how it’s wrong, and why didn’t we make more calls, and just, his typical anger outburst at this decision,” she added.
Hutchinson said she and Meadows crossed paths with Trump in the White House when the pair was leaving a Christmas party in the residence.
“He had said something to the effect of, ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark, this is embarrassing, figure it out, we need to figure it out, I don’t want people to know that we lost,’” Hutchinson said.
The panel also presented an email sent from a Secret Service agent the day the Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit.
“Just FYI. POTUS is pissed — breaking news — Supreme Court denied his law suit. He is livid now…,” the email reads.