How the Jan. 6 panel broke through Trump allies' stonewalling ...

“A lot of these people still have their ethics intact and don’t want to squander the rest of their careers for other people’s mistakes and corruption.”Aides like Cassidy Hutchinson, a close adviser to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Ken Klukowski, who advised former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, have helped the select committee fill in gaps about Trump’s private meetings, calls and efforts to overturn the 2020 election that investigators could otherwise only obtain from the principal players themselves.These interviews have given committee members confidence that they’ll be able to tell the full story of Trump’s attempt to stop the transition of power — even though central figures like Clark, Meadows, outside adviser Steve Bannon and attorney John Eastman have declined to provide substantive testimony.While appearances by Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner drew headlines in recent weeks, select committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel has spent much of its energy lately on figures who are not “household” names but “had knowledge and information about what went on leading up to January 6. During that interview, the excerpt shows, investigators sought to piece together when the White House was aware of the violence at the Capitol.“I just wondered, Mr. Williamson, do you remember seeing bike racks being breached?” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the panel’s vice chair, asked Williamson during a January interview.“Yes, on the TV, correct, congresswoman,” Williamson replied, adding that he talked to Meadows after that breach.Cooperation from Meadows’ aides has also changed the select committee’s posture in its legal battle to force the former chief of staff to testify.