Tuesday’s hearing was a masterclass on the threats posed by Trump to our republic

‘Hutchinson made clear that the threat of violence loomed large in the days and moments before the invasion of the Capitol.’ Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

On Tuesday, the House select committee delivered a two-hour masterclass on the threats posed by Donald Trump to our republic and democracy. Cassidy Hutchinson, a deputy to Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, may have placed Trump’s name on a federal indictment for seditious conspiracy. The Capitol had been defaced for the “sake of a lie”, Hutchinson declared.

Hutchinson testified that Trump attempted to strangle his secret service agent and lunged for the steering wheel when he was told that he would not be driven to the Capitol to join the rioters. Hutchinson also testified that Trump said that Mike Pence “deserved” to be hanged for his refusal to overturn the election. On Tuesday night, NBC’s Washington correspondent Peter Alexander reported that both the lead agent and the presidential limousine driver are “prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.”