Matthew Pottinger, a former aide to Donald Trump, is testifying at the prime-time hearing of the January 6 committee on Thursday night. Pottinger is the seniormost official from the Trump administration to testify publicly before the committee. Also testifying on Thursday is Sarah Matthews, former deputy press secretary of the White House.

Lawmakers who are a part of the committee hinted that the eighth session would break down 187 minutes of Trump’s inaction while his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “This is going to open people’s eyes in a big way,” Representative Adam Kinzinger said in a statement.

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Who is Matthew Pottinger?

Matthew Pottinger, 27, is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank based at Stanford University. He served as deputy national security advisor in the Donald Trump administration from 2019 and resigned on January 6, 2021, the day of the US Capitol riots.

Before he was roped in for the senior post, Pottinger was senior director for Asia at the White House, with a focus on China. Years earlier, Pottinger had worked as a news reporter in China and his views on that country helped shape the Trump government’s aggressive position on Beijing. 

Pottinger was a reporter based in China for news agency Reuters and the Wall Street Journal in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He later served in the US Marines and was deployed in Iraq and in Afghanistan. 

After his stint with the marines, Pottinger launched an Asia-focused risk consultancy and ran research at a New York investment fund. 

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The January 6 House Committee has held seven hearings. There is much anticipation around the testimony of Pottinger and Mathews at the eighth hearing tonight. Former President Donald Trump has been accused of encouraging a riotous, armed mob of his supporters that stormed Capitol; Hill on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.