New Insights Into Trump’s State of Mind on Jan. 6 Chip Away at Doubts

David French, a conservative critic of Mr. Trump, had been skeptical the committee would produce adequate proof. “But Hutchinson’s sworn testimony closes a gap in the criminal case against Trump,” he wrote on The Dispatch, a conservative web site. Two legislation professors, Alan Z. Rozenshtein of the University of Minnesota and Jed Handelsman Shugerman of Fordham University, likewise opposed prosecution till seeing Ms. Hutchinson, writing on the Lawfare blog that she modified their minds as a result of she supplied “proof of intent.”

The hearings, which can proceed after Congress returns on July 11 from its vacation recess, have offered solely the prosecution’s facet of the story. With Mr. Trump’s acquiescence, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican chief, opted in opposition to appointing anybody to the choose committee after Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected a pair of his authentic picks, leaving the panel composed solely of Democrats and two Republicans deeply vital of the previous president.

Neither Ms. Hutchinson nor any of the opposite witnesses who’ve testified have been cross-examined. Their testimony has typically been offered briefly edited clips somewhat than of their entirety, and no opposite testimony has been provided publicly. In a courtroom, if it ever got here to that, the case in opposition to Mr. Trump could be examined because it has not been to this point.

“The committee’s presentation has been a purely political exercise, deceptively edited,” mentioned Jason Miller, who served as a political adviser to Mr. Trump throughout and after the election.

Yet even exterior the confines of the listening to room, Mr. Miller and others in Mr. Trump’s camp have primarily attacked the committee or tried to chip away at items of the testimony somewhat than produce a lot of a protection of the previous president’s actions or an alternate clarification for his state of thoughts.

In his social media posts, Mr. Trump denied asking that armed supporters be allowed at his rally. “Who would ever want that?” he wrote. “Not me!” He targeted extra of his vitality on castigating Ms. Hutchinson in scathing private phrases (“whacko,” “total phony”) and concentrated on one small side of her testimony, particularly whether he lunged for the wheel of his presidential vehicle when his Secret Service element refused to take him to the Capitol on Jan. 6.