Matthew
Pottinger, a member of former President Donald Trump’s National Security
Council before resigning in the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021, is testifying before
the House select committee probing the Capitol riots. According to Pottinger’s
testimony before the House committee conducting its eighth hearing, he was at
the White House through most of the day on January 6, 2021.
Liz Cheney,
the House select committee vice chairwoman, described Pottinger as “a former
Marine intelligence officer who served in the White House for years, including –
including as deputy national adviser, was in the vicinity of the Oval Office at
various points throughout the day.”
The
committee previously played a video clip from Pottinger’s interview in which he
described the moment he knew it was the moment to resign.
“One
of my staff brought me a printout of a tweet by the President, and the tweet
said something to the effect that Mike Pence, the vice president, didn’t have
the courage to do what he — what should have been done. I — I read that tweet
and made a decision at that moment to resign. That’s where I knew that I was
leaving that day once I read that tweet,” he said in the interview.