Speaker 1: This is this is absolutely the best yesterday. After Cassidy Hutchinson testified
that Donald Trump knew and wanted armed people at his rally on January 6th that Donald Trump
assaulted a Secret Service agent, tried to commandeer his vehicle to go to the Capitol,
threw food at the wall, leaving a stain of ketchup, having to be cleaned up by a number
of different people after all these things happened. And the testimony was extraordinary.
Fox News was completely in shambles. First of all, there's a moment where it's just the silence.
They don't nobody knows what to say. Nobody has any idea what to say. It's the most delightful,
awkward silence I've ever seen on Fox News. Speaker 4: We always point out that there's
not a pushback, and it would have been great to hear Jim Jordan or some congressman say
some other angle to this. But the testimony in and of itself is really, really powerful.
Speaker 1: Sandra you take this one. Sandra I don't know. Just the most and
the smirk on Brett Bayer's face about like where do we go from here? Really says it all.
Speaker 4: Indeed. Yes, I am here now. Brett, to your point, I just wonder for
the for the country watching this in this moment, how much this changes, what people.
Speaker 3: Believed or did not believe. Speaker 1: Right. Aside from it being compelling,
I mean, does it even really matter at this point in time? Now, Brett Bayer then making
a very good point here. He makes a good point and it's a point I've made on this
program as well. Cassidy Hutchinson is there in front of the bright lights under oath while
Trump is posting to his social media platforms. Speaker 4: Essentially exactly that from hearing
it firsthand, she says that both of those men requested pardons from the president. I
think what she pointed to, Sandra, was the most compelling when she quotes Mark Meadows saying,
Pat, you heard the president. He doesn't care. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're
doing anything wrong as far as they're literally, literally calling for the vice president to be
hung. And then Pat Cipollone, he says, this is f ing crazy. According to Hutchinson,
this testimony was very compelling from beginning to end. She obviously had access to all of the
players. Drew, we are now hearing from the former president on various posts where he questions her
accuracy. He goes after her directly, says he doesn't know who she is
and said he didn't lunge at the Secret Service agent in the beast. That didn't happen. He says
he didn't throw his lunch against the wall. That didn't happen. And that she's lying.
Cassie Hutchinson is under oath on Capitol Hill. The president is on truth social.
Making his statement. What is so compelling? Speaker 1: I think hard to argue. I mean, that's
absolutely true. And Fox News just completely unclear on how to cover this in the immediate
aftermath. Now, later in the show, we'll look at what the primetime lineup did with the testimony.
They were ready with a smear campaign against Cassidy Hutchinson. They were ready to go.
But in the immediate aftermath. In the immediate aftermath, they didn't know how. How do we what
do we do here? And Brett Beyer admitting this is some of the most jaw dropping testimony ever
to take place in the world of American politics. Speaker 4: I've covered politics for a long time.
I don't think there's been testimony like this that is kind of jaw dropping in a way on the
inside workings of a White House through crisis after, you know, at this moment and January
6th that we've seen in since Watergate. Speaker 1: Right. And he's absolutely
correct. So by the end of this news hour, they were starting to put together their reaction
plan. And Martha MACCALLUM shows up towards the end of the show and sort of just starts
to downplay the significance of the testimony. This was the first step in kind of minimizing it.
Later in the evening, Fox News went full out smear campaign on Cassidy Hutchinson.
We'll get to that. But here is Martha MACCALLUM trying to run a little bit of interference.
Speaker 4: I would say, John, you know, I'd agree with what you all have just been talking about,
but I would say that we had sort of the basic parameters of what happened with
regard to this. We had heard before that the president wanted to go to the capital.
Speaker 1: And understand the strategy. Here is all along, when we were hearing these things,
they were denying that they were true. Now that the testimony has gotten so specific and explosive
from people so close to Trump, now they go, these aren't even really new revelations. Well,
you denied the revelations were accurate. Speaker 4: Originally to push back against
that. So what we're getting today are a lot of details and fill in in just how dramatic
that whole situation was. I think that she comes across very credible. She has a good memory for
all of these different conversations that were being had. And clearly the description of what
happened in the beast, which is the president's vehicle, of course, of him wanting to lunge toward
the steering wheel, according to this account from Bobby, who was the security Secret Service
person who was in the vehicle who she says was very shaken up afterwards. The question is,
you know, all of this is obviously riveting. It's very dramatic. It was clearly a very difficult
day for for her and for those who were involved. Right. Everybody who witnessed it, I would add.
But the question is, in terms of the Department of Justice, does it move the ball at all on
any legal action that they could pursue? Or is it sort of an overall filling in the gaps,
filling in the story that has an impact on whether or not the former president decides to run again?
And whether or not any of these details impact people's feelings about that. All right.
Speaker 1: Even if it's all true, even though we downplayed it and denied it all along, and even
if Donald Trump was a completely unhinged, authoritarian madman, hell bent on keeping
a presidency, that he didn't actually win and indifferent to the potential hanging of his vice
president. Even if all of that is true, which we ran interference for for the last year and a half,
does it really matter at this point? Just an incredible, incredible way to downplay it. And
just remember, they had 5 hours to get organized before primetime hit
later on last night. And after the break, we will look at what became a concerted and calculated
smear campaign against Cassidy Hutchinson. That's after the break. If you're just listening
today and you want to check out video of these clips that I've been playing for you,
make sure that you follow us on Instagram. You can find us on Instagram The David Pakman Show.