Mr Pottinger, who was at the White House for most of the day of the riot, is one of the live witnesses at the hearing, which is expected to focus on the more than three hours Mr Trump watched the violence unfold without any meaningful action to withdraw his supporters even when they threatened Vice President Mike Pence. Mr Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary who also resigned on January 6, are expected to help recount what unfolded inside the West Wing during those 187 minutes at a hearing that the committee sees as the capstone to a series of public meetings in which he detailed Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in office despite his defeat and how they led to the storming of Capitol Hill. The hearing, scheduled for 8 p.m., is expected to detail how Mr. Trump resisted multiple calls from staff members, lawyers and even his own family to call off the attack. Mr Pottinger declined to comment. Ms. Matthews and a spokesman for the committee did not respond to requests for comment. Their scheduled appearances were reported earlier by CNN.
Key revelations from the January 6 hearings
Ms. Matthews is expected to talk, among other things, about efforts to get Mr. Trump to issue a statement, people familiar with the planning said. Mr Pottinger, like Ms Matthews, has previously given a videotaped interview to the commission, describing what he saw that day. Excerpts from both interviews were played at committee hearings in recent weeks. The committee said it would use that hearing to highlight Mr Trump’s “dereliction of duty” that day. Among the things Mr. Pottinger discussed with the committee was a visit he made to the Oval Office as the riot began well after 3 p.m., while Mr. Trump was in the small dining room next to it, according to a person familiar with the matter. knows. his interview. Mr Pottinger had earlier received a call from Charles Cooperman, a former deputy national security adviser in the Trump White House, relaying a message he received from an intermediary saying the Washington mayor was trying to get to the White House to deploy the National Guard, according to a former senior White House official. Mr. Pottinger told the committee that he did not see Mr. Trump, but that he had spoken with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and informed him that a former colleague had told him that the National Guard had not yet arrived on Capitol Hill. Mr. Pottinger told the committee that an apparently frustrated Mr. Meadows responded by saying he had made several calls to a top Pentagon official to send the National Guard to the Capitol, according to the person with knowledge of his testimony. Mr Pottinger resigned shortly afterwards. he told the committee he did so after Mr. Trump posted a tweet attacking Mr. Pence as the riot unfolded. Mr. Pottinger stayed a few hours into the night so that he could complete certain tasks before leaving. Video by another former White House official, White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone, is also expected to be used to narrate the day, a third person familiar with the plans said.
