The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Meadows was warned of violence before Jan. 6, new court filings show

April 23, 2022 at 12:24 a.m. EDT
Then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the White House on Oct. 21, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP)
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White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was warned before Jan. 6, 2021, about the threat of violence that day as supporters of President Donald Trump planned to mass at the U.S. Capitol, according to new testimony released late Friday by the House committee investigating the insurrection.

One of Meadows’s top aides, Cassidy Hutchinson, told congressional investigators she recalled Anthony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official who also held the role of a political adviser at the White House, “coming in and saying that we had intel reports saying that there could potentially be violence on the 6th. And Mr. Meadows said: All right. Let’s talk about it.”