Cassidy Hutchinson says she felt 'unsettled' when Mark Meadows secretly recorded a phone call with Nancy Pelosi: book
Cassidy Hutchinson in her new book wrote of her unease when Meadows recorded a conversation with Pelosi.
After Meadows asked her to record the call, Hutchinson pushed back, calling the request "bizarre."
Hutchinson wrote that Meadows stressed the importance of being able to produce "receipts."
Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in her new memoir said that her onetime boss, ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, once recorded an August 2020 phone conversation with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unbeknownst to the veteran lawmaker and her staff.
Hutchinson, whose memoir, "Enough," was released on Tuesday, described how had she rejected Meadows' entreaties for her to record the conversation with Pelosi, writing that she felt "unsettled" when her then-boss used his phone instead.
"When Mark and I had pulled onto West Executive Avenue earlier that evening, he'd asked me to turn on my cell phone's voice recorder. Confused, I asked why," she wrote. "I made eye contact in the rearview mirror with a Secret Service agent, whose look seemed to say, Why are you questioning his authority?"
"But I did not back down, considering the request bizarre," she continued. "Mark had never directed me to do anything like that. When I did not immediately do as he asked, he turned on his own phone's recorder before calling Speaker Pelosi to discuss a COVID-related issue."
Hutchinson then went on to detail how she had sought to develop a level of trust with lawmakers in her role, which Meadows' actions contradicted.
"I felt unsettled. Mark knew I worked hard to build a semi-trusting relationship with the Speaker and her staff," she wrote. "The agents got out of the car, and I tried to follow, but Mark held up a finger, motioning for me to stay. When he finished the call, he told me never to be too trusting of people."
"You never know when you'll have to show your own receipts," he said, according to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, who rose from an intern on Capitol Hill to a top aide in the corridors of the White House, had a front-seat view to some of the most tumultuous moments of the Trump administration, including the response to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
She testified before the House January 6 committee last year, where she spoke of how she pushed Meadows to "snap out" of it and respond more forcefully to the Capitol riot immediately after it broke out.
Insider has reached out to Meadows for comment.
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