7.5 “He Doesn’t Want to Do Anything”

¶Throughout the afternoon, the President’s advisors tried to get him to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, but to no avail.

¶Ben Williamson, the White House Acting Director of Communications, watched on the news as officers and rioters pepper sprayed each other and crowds used bicycle barricades to push against officers holding the line.¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Benjamin Williamson, (Jan. 25, 2022) p. 60. Live feeds of the Capitol began showing pepper spray exchanges between officers and rioters around 1:29 p.m. See Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Secret Service Production), CTRL0000094153; Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol (Secret Service Production), CTRL0000094192; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 21, 2022), at 40:00, available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.Show full note He and Sarah Matthews, the Deputy Press Secretary, devised a plan: He would go to Meadows and she would go to McEnany to urge that the President issue a statement.¹⁵⁶¹⁵⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), pp. 36–37. Williamson first texted Meadows:

¶Minutes later, around 2:05 p.m., Hutchinson found Meadows seated in his office on the couch, absorbed by his cell phone screen.¹⁵⁸¹⁵⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 24 (“I saw that he was sitting on his couch on his cell phone, same as the morning, where he was just kind of scrolling and typing.”).

¶“Are you watching the TV, chief?” she asked. He indicated he was.

¶“Have you talked to the President?” she asked.

¶“No,” he replied. “He wants to be alone right now.”¹⁵⁹¹⁵⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 24.

¶Rioters broke into the west side of the Capitol building around 2:13 p.m.¹⁶⁰¹⁶⁰ The Select Committee’s review of U.S. Capitol Police surveillance footage showed that Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola smashed a Senate Wing window at 2:13 p.m. and rioters entered through that window, as well as an adjacent door, shortly thereafter. See also Third Superseding Indictment at 21, United States v. Nordean et al., No. 1:21-cr-175 (D.D.C. June 6, 2022), ECF No. 380 (noting that Dominic Pezzola “used [a] riot shield … to break a window of the Capitol” at “2:13 p.m.” and that “[t]he first members of the mob entered the Capitol through this broken window”); 167 Cong. Rec. S634 (daily ed. Feb. 10, 2021), available at https://www.congress.gov/117/crec/2021/02/10/CREC-2021-02-10-pt1-PgS615-4.pdf.Show full note Just a few minutes later, Hutchinson saw Cipollone “barreling down the hallway” and—after looking at Hutchinson and shaking his head—opened the door to Meadows’s office unannounced.¹⁶¹¹⁶¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 25. Cipollone confirmed that he first went to the dining room when he saw that “people had breached the Capitol, they had gotten into the Capitol.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 149.Show full note Meadows was right where she left him, “still sitting on his phone.”¹⁶²¹⁶² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 26.

¶“The rioters have gotten to the Capitol, Mark. We need to go down and see the President now,” she heard Cipollone say.¹⁶³¹⁶³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 26. Cipollone would not confirm or deny any of this exchange, citing executive privilege.¹⁶⁴¹⁶⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 150.

¶“He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat,” Meadows said, peering up from his phone.¹⁶⁵¹⁶⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 26.

¶“Mark something needs to be done, or people are going to die and the blood’s gonna be on your [fucking] hands,” Cipollone said. “This is getting out of control. I’m going down there.”¹⁶⁶¹⁶⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 26. Cipollone did not elaborate but testified generally that he was “very upset about what was happening” at the Capitol and wanted “action to be taken related to that.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 149.Show full note

¶Meadows finally stood up from the couch and walked with Cipollone toward the dining room to meet with the President.¹⁶⁷¹⁶⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 26.

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