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It’s hard to imagine how Tuesday’s surprise hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee could’ve been more damning for President Donald Trump.With vivid stories told in measured tones, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to the president and aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, “stitched together every element of the panel’s case against Donald Trump,” our Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu write. “The Capitol riot committee has painted the former president’s potential criminal culpability for his effort to overturn the election in stark hues: investigators have portrayed Trump fuming atop an increasingly conspiracy-addled West Wing and working to corrupt the peaceful transfer of power at any cost.”Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

On Monday afternoon, the House Jan. 6 committee, which was supposed to be on a hiatus for the next two weeks, abruptly announced it would be holding a hearing today at 1 p.m. “to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.” The star witness is expected to be Cassidy Hutchinson, a former executive assistant to ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows who has testified three times behind closed doors, in February, March and May.Hutchinson knows a lot. Before, on, and after Jan. 6, she had close proximity to both Meadows and then-President Donald Trump.“Almost all, if not all, meetings Mr. Trump had, I had insight on,” she told the committee in March.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

The Biden White House’s plan for this week, as of one week ago: Spend the end of June focusing on foreign policy, making use of a pair of European summits (the G-7 and NATO) to rally support for the hard-fought international coalition that formed in opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The Biden White House’s plan for this week, as of now: Scrap that. Yes, the summits will go on but the big story will be the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade — which eliminated the right to an abortion, and may have dramatically changed American politics in doing so.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

On Thursday night, the Senate passed a bipartisan gun safety bill in a 65-33 vote that saw 15 Republicans join all 50 Democrats to support the bill.— How it happened: “In a Washington run by Baby Boomers and octogenarians, it took two 40-something Democrats with a yin-and-yang approach to get a gun safety deal done,” Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine write in a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the compromise.Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: New Jan. 6 witness: Trump had mystery call with PutinRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Recall that in the first hearing of the Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said, “Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power.”Each day of hearings has been devoted to covering one or two of the seven dramatic episodes of that overall plot: (1) Trump’s misinformation campaign, (2) his effort to find a pliable A.G., (3) his pressure campaign on then-VP Mike Pence, (4) his pressure campaign on state officials, (5) his legal team’s effort to create fake slates of electors, (6) his assembling and directing the Jan. 6 mob, and (7) his refusal to call off the violent mob as it sacked the Capitol.Today is devoted to Part 2, a deep dive into how Trump pressured Department of Justice officials to advance what committee members have repeatedly called an attempted coup.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Since we scooped on Tuesday morning that documentarian Alex Holder was subpoenaed by the House Jan. 6 committee seeking previously unreported footage he recorded over several months of full access to Donald Trump, his adult kids and VP Mike Pence, more details have emerged about what’s on the tapes. And, Trump loses bigly in Georgia: “Georgia Republican voters rebuked Donald Trump for the second time in a month Tuesday by rejecting his picks for a pair of open U.S. House seats,” writes AJC’s Greg Bluestein.Gordon Rhoden, chair of Georgia’s Athens-Clarke County GOP: “At this point in time, the Trump endorsement is neutral. It’s not a plus and it’s not a negative. … People are moving beyond that.”

Scoop: The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 sent a subpoena last week to Alex Holder, a documentary filmmaker who was granted extensive access to President Donald Trump and his inner circle, and who shot interviews with the then-president both before and after Jan. 6. The existence of this footage is previously unreported.A source familiar with the project told Playbook on Monday night that Holder began filming on the campaign trail in September 2020 for a project on Trump’s reelection campaign. Over the course of several months, Holder had substantial access to Trump, Trump’s adult children and VP Mike Pence, both in the White House and on the campaign trail.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Today’s Jan. 6 committee hearing is going to be one for the history books, so tune in at 1 p.m.On Wednesday night, we caught up with today’s star witness, Michael Luttig. “America is at war with herself,” he will say. “One war is for the cultural heart and soul of America. The other is a war over America’s democracy.” He will say that “both of these wars must end in peace if America is to go forward.”Today, Luttig is appearing as a fact witness because of his role in the leadup to Jan. 6, when Luttig told then-VP Mike Pence to ignore the advice of John Eastman, a former Luttig clerk who hatched the scheme to persuade Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 election by rejecting electoral votes from states former President Donald Trump lost. Luttig first told the full story of his role on that day in our “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast in February. But what he is planning to talk about today goes beyond his views of the Electoral Count Act and his gripping account of his role on Jan. 6.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tuesday’s elections, which included primaries in four states (Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina) and a special election in Texas.— Republicans can survive crossing Trump, but rarely can they survive being anti-Trump— Republicans continue to make major inroads with Hispanics, especially in border areas of Texas …— 2020 election deniers are winning everywhere …Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

It’s a Tuesday in 2022, which means it’s time for yet another stop in Donald Trump's post-presidency revenge tour against incumbent Republicans he thinks have wronged him. Today will see two high-profile GOP primaries in South Carolina, where Reps. Tom Rice and Nancy Mace face Trump-backed opponents. Though there are similarities between the two — Rice was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection, while Mace, a freshman then on her third day in Congress, went on TV to slam Trump for lying about the 2020 election — today will be a case study in the divergent tactics the two have taken in responding to Trump’s attacks, as NYT’s Maya King noted MondaySubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.