Enough

The Office of Legislative Affairs is a part of the Department of Justice that coordinates with Congress on legislative matters. Hutchinson describes OLA as a “liaison between the executive and legislative branches of government” (45). She was pleased to be an intern there and was later hired as an aide, her first paid government position. Later in her career, Hutchinson found herself at odds with OLA staff since her boss, Mark Meadows, gave her “as much authority over OLA as its acting director” (112), which was not normal protocol.

The US House of Representatives voted to form this committee, informally known as the “January 6 Committee,” to investigate the events of January 6. The Committee consisted of Chair Bennie Thompson, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, and seven other representatives. Hutchinson’s interactions with the Committee form a significant part of the memoir. Receiving her subpoena from the Committee changed the author’s life as she had to find legal representation and decide if she was going to withhold information and obscure the Trump administration’s role in the January 6 attack or provide a full testimony. In her work, Hutchinson describes her decision to cooperate fully with the Committee as a liberating and patriotic moment.

The White House chief of staff works directly for, and is appointed by, the president and manages the White House staff. In Hutchinson’s work, she explains that Donald Trump had four chiefs of staff over the course of his four years as president. When Mark Meadows was hired to this position, he hired Hutchinson to be his top aide and instructed her to be his “eyes and ears” around the office (82). Hutchinson relayed many of his instructions to staff and influenced the White House office by offering her advice and opinions to Meadows. For instance, she identified Mike McKenna as someone Meadows could fire, and he did so.