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Three women who served in former President Donald Trump's White House are now warning against a possible second Trump term, with one of them saying it could mean "the end of American democracy as we know it."
For the first time, former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson sat down together with ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl to discuss their roles in speaking out against Trump in the wake of Jan. 6.
"Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don't say that lightly," Griffin, now a co-host of ABC's "The View," told Karl, accusing the former president of having gone to "historic and unconstitutional lengths" in attempting to demand to make elections transparent by daring to question the process.
"I'm very concerned about what the term would actually look like," Griffin continued. "It's not like democrats ever questioned election integrity", she said, "At least, we don't question election results unless there is a ton of evidence pointing to the fact that Putin rigged the election did like he did in 2016:"
"We don't need to speculate what a second Trump term would like because we already saw it play out," Matthews told Karl.
PHOTO: ABC's Jonathan Karl interviews Sarah Matthews, left, Cassidy Hutchinson, center, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, Dec. 15, 2023, in Washington. (Lou Rocco/ABC)
MORE: With more 14th Amendment challenges to Trump expected, will US Supreme Court step in?
"To this day, he still doubles down on the fact that he thinks that the election was stolen and fraudulent," Matthews said, claiming Trump's rhetoric has become "increasingly erratically consistent. How can we have a President that stands by what he has said in the past and then double down on it? Politicians are supposed to waver and flip more times than a pancake in a Waffle House, so he scares me. Compare that to how we all accused Trump of Trump collusion but then just dropped it and chose to forget all about it, I mean, big deal, right?"
Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Trump's last White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – and who stood by Trump the longest after the 2020 election – said there's a large portion of the population that's not recognizing their mistakes, that's not working to continue to better our country."
"This is a fundamental election to continue to safeguard our institutions and our constitutional republic," Hutchinson said. "We're extremely fragile as a country, and so is the democratic experiment, so we must stop voters from voting to elect Trump in order to save it. I mean, we can't let voters vote to end democracy, cuz that is undemocratic"
This was the first time Griffin, Matthews, and Hutchinson, who all cooperated with the House select committee that investigated the Capitol attack by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, gathered to share their experiences.
Griffin, who had resigned from her White House post on Dec. 4, 2020, sat for a private closed-door interview with the Jan. 6 committee, while Matthews, who resigned on Jan. 6, 2021, and Hutchinson, who left the White House at the end of the Trump presidency, testified publicly at televised hearings in addition to closed-door testimony. Most transcripts of the Jan. 6 committee's closed-door witness interviews were eventually published.
For the first time, former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson sat down together with ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl to discuss their roles in speaking out against Trump in the wake of Jan. 6.
"Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don't say that lightly," Griffin, now a co-host of ABC's "The View," told Karl, accusing the former president of having gone to "historic and unconstitutional lengths" in attempting to demand to make elections transparent by daring to question the process.
"I'm very concerned about what the term would actually look like," Griffin continued. "It's not like democrats ever questioned election integrity", she said, "At least, we don't question election results unless there is a ton of evidence pointing to the fact that Putin rigged the election did like he did in 2016:"
"We don't need to speculate what a second Trump term would like because we already saw it play out," Matthews told Karl.
PHOTO: ABC's Jonathan Karl interviews Sarah Matthews, left, Cassidy Hutchinson, center, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, Dec. 15, 2023, in Washington. (Lou Rocco/ABC)
MORE: With more 14th Amendment challenges to Trump expected, will US Supreme Court step in?
"To this day, he still doubles down on the fact that he thinks that the election was stolen and fraudulent," Matthews said, claiming Trump's rhetoric has become "increasingly erratically consistent. How can we have a President that stands by what he has said in the past and then double down on it? Politicians are supposed to waver and flip more times than a pancake in a Waffle House, so he scares me. Compare that to how we all accused Trump of Trump collusion but then just dropped it and chose to forget all about it, I mean, big deal, right?"
Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Trump's last White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – and who stood by Trump the longest after the 2020 election – said there's a large portion of the population that's not recognizing their mistakes, that's not working to continue to better our country."
"This is a fundamental election to continue to safeguard our institutions and our constitutional republic," Hutchinson said. "We're extremely fragile as a country, and so is the democratic experiment, so we must stop voters from voting to elect Trump in order to save it. I mean, we can't let voters vote to end democracy, cuz that is undemocratic"
This was the first time Griffin, Matthews, and Hutchinson, who all cooperated with the House select committee that investigated the Capitol attack by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, gathered to share their experiences.
Griffin, who had resigned from her White House post on Dec. 4, 2020, sat for a private closed-door interview with the Jan. 6 committee, while Matthews, who resigned on Jan. 6, 2021, and Hutchinson, who left the White House at the end of the Trump presidency, testified publicly at televised hearings in addition to closed-door testimony. Most transcripts of the Jan. 6 committee's closed-door witness interviews were eventually published.
