Trump was 'furious' people with weapons weren't allowed through metal detectors at Jan 6 rally because it kept crowd size small
- A former aide said Trump was "fucking furious" that the crowd area wasn't full ahead of his Jan 6 speech.
- "He doesn't get it that the people on the monument side don't want to come in," another aide replied.
The January 6 committee revealed on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump's presidency ended in much the same way it began: with concerns about crowd size looming large.
Cassidy Hutchinson testified at the hastily arranged hearing that Trump grew irate due to the effect that security screening was having on a crowd of his heavily armed supporters that had gathered to watch his speech on the Ellipse on January 6, 2021.
"The crowd looks good from the vanish [sic] point. As long as we get the shot. He was fucking furious," wrote Cassidy Hutchinson, then a special assistant to the president, in a text to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato on the morning of January 6.
"He doesn't get it that the people on the monument side don't want to come in," Ornato replied. "They can see from there and don't have to go through mags."
"Mags" refers to the metal detectors used by Secret Service to screen attendees of Trump's speech. At one point, Trump grew so irate that he ordered his aides to have the metal detectors removed.
"Something to the effect of take the f-ing mags away," she said when asked by committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming how he responded.
It's something of a call-back to a lie told by then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on the first day of Trump's presidency, when he exaggerated the size of the crowd that had gathered to watch the presidential inauguration.
Trump, apparently watching Tuesday's hearing, denied Hutchinson's sworn testimony on his network, TRUTH Social.
"Never complained about the crowd, it was massive," he said. "I didn't want or request that we make room for people with guns to watch my speech. Who would ever want that? Not me!"