What was a dark day for Democracy turned out to be a shining night for late night TV.
Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to former President Donald Trump’s last Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, gave riveting testimony of scenes that bordered on the absurd as the United States Capitol came under siege by Trump’s supporters and in the lead up to that event.
One of the stories she told was how Trump, as described later by Trevor Noah, lost his sh** when he found out about an interview his then-Attorney General Bill Barr had given to the Associated Press.
Hubbard related a scene she witnessed while walking into the dining room where, according to the White House valet who was about to clean ketchup off the wall, the then-president had thrown the his lunch — and plate — against the wall.
Asked if that were an isolated example Hubbard replied, “There were several instances throughout my tenure where I was aware of him throwing dishes or flipping the table cloth to let all of the contents of the table go onto the floor.”
Or as Noah summed it up on the Daily Show, “Trump was constantly throwing food tantrums.”
Many of the hosts keyed in on what Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Chelsea Handler called a “truly insane” moment. Hutchinson described being told that Trump tried to head to the Capitol himself on January 6. “I’m the f*cking president, take me up to the Capitol now,” Trump is alleged to have screamed at his Secret Service detail in the presidential limousine.
Denied the request by agents, Trump allegedly tried to grab the wheel of the armor-plated car, known as the Beast, to steer the vehicle himself.
“Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel,” Secret Service agent Robert Engel informed Trump, according to what Hutchinson was told. “We are going back to the West Wing, we are not going to the Capitol,” Engel continued, grasping one of Trump’s arms. Trump supposedly then tried to attack Engel, the head of his Secret Service detail.
“That is no way to treat a Secret Service agent. That is how you treat a contestant backstage at the Miss Universe contest,” quipped Handler before adding, “It turns out Donald Trump was even more of a sh**bag than we previously thought.”
Stephen Colbert emphasized the bit about Trump’s alleged lunge toward Engel.
“He went for the throat!” said Colbert. “When you join the Secret Service you expect to take one for the president, but not from the president.”
Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show came back with, “Always good when you need a Secret Service to protect the Secret Service.