Two Former White House Aides Expected to Testify at Thursday's Jan. 6 Hearing
Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, who both resigned after the Capitol attack, are expected to help the House committee detail what Donald Trump did as the riot unfolded.
By Amy Swan ·
Two former White House aides are expected to testify Thursday at the House Jan. 6 committee's prime-time hearing in Washington, which will examine what Donald Trump was doing while his supporters broke into the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and asked not to be named, said the witnesses will be Matthew Pottinger, a former deputy national security advisor, and Sarah Matthews, a former press aide. Both resigned immediately after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, which interrupted Congress's certification of President Biden's victory.
Their accounts will feed into the committee's narrative at its eighth hearing this summer, which may also be its last. The session is meant to lay out what Trump did, or failed to do, during the hours when his supporters beat police officers and forced their way into the Capitol.
Earlier hearings described chaos inside the White House, with aides and people outside the administration pleading with the president to tell the rioters to leave. He waited more than three hours before doing so. Even so, many questions remain about exactly what he was doing and saying as the violence played out.
Members of the nine-person panel say Thursday's session will present their most compelling evidence yet of Trump's "dereliction of duty" that day, with witnesses describing his failure to rein in the angry mob. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a committee member who will help lead the hearing, spoke about it Sunday. "This is going to open people's eyes in a big way," he said. "The president didn't do anything."
The hearing will be the first in the prime-time slot since the committee's June 9 debut, which an estimated 20 million people watched. That opening session covered the period from Dec. 18, 2020, when a contentious meeting took place in the Oval Office between White House aides and outside advisors inclined toward conspiracy theories, through the morning of Jan. 6.
Source: Los Angeles Times
