They knew. Donald Trump. His chief of staff, Mark Meadows. His closest advisers in the White House. They knew about what could happen on Jan. 6.
About how there was a real potential for violence if Proud Boys and Oath Keepers marched on the U.S. Capitol like Trump had asked them to. About how things could " as Meadows said " "get real, real bad."
About how people who attended Trump's rally that morning were heavily armed, with military-grade equipment and AR-15s, and how the Capitol Police would eventually be unable to contain them.
About how what Trump wanted to do that day " march with his supporters to the Capitol to stop certification of the electoral vote count " could lead to them being "charged with every crime imaginable," according to the White House counsel.
Until Tuesday, Americans suspected all of this. Then Cassidy Hutchinson walked into Tuesday's Jan. 6 hearing on Capitol Hill and confirmed it.
In an explosive and courageous appearance, the top aide to the president's chief of staff explained in breathtaking detail how Trump and his enablers, including North Carolina's very own Meadows, allowed an insurrection to occur.
"It was un-American," Hutchinson testified. "We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie."
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