Before Mark Meadows took over as Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff in his waning days in the White House, Mick Mulvaney held that role, so coveted among ideological right-wing Republican politicos.
So with the many revelations emerging from today’s last-minute addition to the House Select Committee’s hearings investigating the January 6th insurrection— many concerning his successor in the Chief of Staff position with Trump, Mark Meadows — Mulvaney’s response to the staggering insider’s account that Meadow’s aide Cassidy Hutchinson recounted gives an indication of how the hearings are playing out among Republican power brokers.
Judging from this post that Mulvaney tweeted out after the hearing’s conclusion today, Donald Trump is in big, big trouble.
A stunning 2 hours:
1)Trump knew the protesters had guns
2)He assaulted his own security team
3)There may be a line from ProudBoys to the WH
4)Top aides asked for pardons
5)The commission thinks they have evidence of witness tampering.That is a very, very bad day for Trump.
— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) June 28, 2022
A bad day for Trump may be putting it mildly, given the bombshell nature of the eye-witness testimony that Cassidy Hutchinson so unflinchingly related to the House panel and the millions watching the hearings at home and work.
The five points that Mulvaney cites all help prove criminal intent on the part of Donald Trump on January 6th and indeed on the days leading up to the fateful day.
The fact that Trump was aware that his MAGA mob had weapons and somehow knew that they were not brought along to target him is almost as damning as the fact that he was more concerned with the fact that metal detectors were impeding the crowd from becoming dense enough to get that perfect overhead shot of them for the TV coverage of the “Stop the Steal” rally.
His eagerness to get to the Capitol in person — as demonstrated by his altercation with the Secret service detail in his presidential limo — and his ties to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are equally incriminating.
Certainly, the fact that Meadows and other top aides all sought pardons after that day looks highly suspicious.
It was the last point on his list, however, that Mulvaney sees as the most dangerous revelation for Trump, as he explained in a pair of earlier tweets.
Cheney's closing is stunning: they think they have evidence of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
There is an old maxim: it's never the crime, it's always the coverup.
Things went very badly for the former President today. My guess is that it will get worse from here— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) June 28, 2022
The Press is going to focus on some sensational revelations from today: guns, grabbing a secret service agent, etc.
But the real bomb that got dropped was the implied charge of witness tampering.
If there is hard evidence, that is a serious problem for the former President.
— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) June 28, 2022
If a serious problem means eventual accountability for Trump — preferably in the form of a lengthy prison sentence — then let’s hope that Mulvaney’s prognostications come true.
That his own former senior staff members are posting tweets like these, however, indicates that Trump is already seriously diminished after these public hearings.
The reactions of those few Republicans who haven’t implicated themselves in Trump’s now apparent plot to overturn the election — those that didn’t see the need to ask for a pardon on the evening of January 6th — will be crucial to watch in the days and weeks ahead as the House Select Committee continues to uncover new details of what that plot entailed.
As Trump’s support among his own party starts to dwindle, the chances of his being held accountable and prosecuted only grows.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.