Topic: Newsmax
Like a loyal right-wing "news" operation, Newsmax made sure to attack former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson over her testimony before the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. First up was Eric Mack being a servile stenographer for Donald Trump's smears of Hutchinson:
As a staffer for White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was the surprise witness Tuesday for the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, former President Donald Trump shot back at her, calling her "a total phony and 'leaker'" and disgruntled castoff after Trump left office.
"I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and 'leaker'), and when she requested to go with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office, I personally turned her request down," Trump wrote on Truth Social as the testimony was being heard.
"Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that she was very upset and angry that I didn't want her to go, or be a member of the team. She is bad news!"
Mack made no apparent effort to fact-check Trump.
Next was an anonyously written article claiming that Secret Service agents "are prepared to go before Congress to flatly contradict the aide's story of an enraged Trump determined to get to the Capitol as a security breach was taking place there" by having "lunged at a driver inside a presidential car and demanded that he be taken to the Capitol." Funny thing, though: More than a month later, the Secret Service agents who declared they would testify to the committee that Hutchinson was lying have yet to do so; instead, they have lawyered up and refused to testify, and they have been identified as Trump loyalists and yes men.
This was followed was a June 29 article by Jay Clemons:
The House select committee overseeing the hearings for the Jan. 6, 2021 unrest at the Capitol has yet to contact the U.S. Secret Service about challenging Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony from Tuesday — even though USSS officials have publicly volunteered to speak with the committee, as a means of presumably rebutting Hutchinson's claims against former President Donald Trump, according to James Rosen, Newsmax's chief White House correspondent.
Citing a sourced report from Rosen, the Secret Service agents who were present with then-President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 in the presidential motorcade vehicle, dubbed "The Beast," are "ready and "eager" to speak with the House panel.
Again, that has yet to happen, and the agents have lawyered up. There is unlikely to be much more Secret Service cooperation with the committee after it was revealed that the agency deleted texts from the phones of its agents related to the riot that could have shed further light on what happened that day.
An article by Nick Koutsobinas complained that "Cassidy Hutchison's attorneys say their client is sticking with the testimony she gave to the Jan. 6 panel in a public hearing on Tuesday despite pushback from Republican lawmakers and others involved in events that day," adding that "Hutchinson said she learned of the motorcade incident from Tony Ornato, Trump's deputy chief of staff" and that "Several news outlets have reported that Ornato is prepared to testify and dispute Hutchinson's claim." But Ornato has not testified to date, and he has lawyered up; he also has a record of lying about things on Trump's behalf.
Newsmax hurled more attacks at Hutchinson over the following days:
- Neb. Gov. Ricketts to Newsmax: Hutchinson's Testimony 'Third-Hand at Best'
- Report: Jan. 6 Witness Hutchinson Lauded Trump Admin in 2018 College Paper
- Megyn Kelly: '1st-Year Law Student' Could Have Discredited Hutchinson
- Former White House Lawyer Disputes Hutchinson Testimony on Note
- Rep. Norman to Newsmax: Jan. 6 Hutchinson Hearing a 'Sham'
But Newsmax's main focus was on Trump's increasingly unhinged -- and never fact-checked -- rantings on Hutchinson.He appeared on Newsmax to rant about her, as detailed in a June 30 article by Sandy Fitzgerald:
Former President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax, pushed back hard against claims made by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who had worked for Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, calling her testimony to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, incidents at the U.S. Capitol "absolutely crazy."
[...]
"This lady, yesterday — is there something wrong with her?" Trump said, not repeating Hutchinson's name. "She said I jumped from a car, I started strangling a Secret Service agent? I grabbed the steering wheel of a car? Said I wanted guns at my rally? I didn't want guns. I have to speak, too."
He pointed out that the Secret Service has come out and called Hutchinson's story "totally false."
"The woman is living in fantasy land," said Trump. "She's a social climber, if you call that social. I think it's just a shame that this is happening to this country, and we don't have any Republicans up there to dispute it. We have one who quit [Adam] Kinzinger, we have another one who's down by 35 points in Wyoming [Rep. Liz Cheney]. She's a total disaster, she's a train wreck, but think of it. Nobody to cross-examine."
Later that day, a stenography article by Mack hyped Trump's call for Hutchingon to be investigated for "lying under oath." Mack was Trump's stenographer again for a July 4 article:
After a new report of text messages from the House Jan. 6 Select Committee's "surprise" witness showed Cassidy Hutchinson called the investigation "bs," former President Donald Trump has come out to shed light on the irony.
"Lyin' Cassidy Hutchinson, who the fake news media refuses to properly reveal, recently called the January 6 Unselect Committee 'B.S.' Gee, that wasn't reported by LameStream!" Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
Trump was at it again days later, and Jeffrey Rodack was the stenographer this time in a July 12 article:
Former President Donald Trump ripped into the Jan. 6 select committee on Tuesday, calling it "political hacks and thugs."
He also took special aim at former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who had testified before the panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Trump's comments came in posts on his Truth Social platform as the panel was set to meet for one of its open sessions to hear additional testimony.
Trump wrote: "Can anyone even imagine the Unselect Committee, which was formed solely for the purpose of bringing down my 'numbers,' or worse, relying on the Fake and made up stories, already largely debunked, of a female scam artist, Cassidy Hutchinson, who desperately wanted to go with the Trump Team to Florida long after January 6th, and went 'crazy' when she was told no. They called her a 'leaker' and worse, didn't want her!"
As usual, there wasn't a fact-check to be found.
