Republicans aren't pushing back on the core facts of Cassidy Hutchinson's compelling testimony concerning the Jan. 6 attack. 

@ Politico Congess Minutes, 5 HOURS AGO

Former President Donald Trump downplayed his connection to her.

What happened: Republicans don't seem to have any concrete answers to former Trump White House top aide's compelling testimony about the lead up and events of Jan. 6 attack. They're not pushing back on the core facts of her first-hand recollections of those events.

Former President Donald Trump downplayed his connection to the aide on his social media site, Truth Social, writing "I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is other than I heard very negative things about her."

But a former senior Trump press official said such claims miss the mark too.

Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is.

— Sarah Matthews (@SarahAMatthews1) June 28, 2022

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney called her testimony compelling and predicted it would lead to further testimony from senior officials.

My guess is that before this is over, we will be hearing testimony from Ornato, Engle, and Meadows.

This is explosive stuff. If Cassidy is making this up, they will need to say that. If she isn't they will have to corroborate.

I know her. I don't think she is lying.

— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) June 28, 2022

The Twitter account of the House Judiciary Republicans downplayed her revelations.

That was their star witness? Ok then.

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 28, 2022

Another tweet from the account sought to remind followers of the current economic situation in the country during the surprise hearing.

Gas is $5 per gallon.

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 28, 2022

We'll wait to see how senior Republican figures, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy respond to the testimony.

Stick with our team: They're all over the testimony presented from this surprise hearing.

— Anthony Adragna

Andrew Yang:

worthwhile as usual:

Half of G.O.P. Voters Ready to Leave Trump Behind, Poll Finds

Far from consolidating his support, the former president appears weakened in his party, especially with younger and college-educated Republicans. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is the most popular alternative.

By Michael C. Bender @ NYTimes.com, July 12

As Donald J. Trump weighs whether to open an unusually early White House campaign, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows that his post-presidential quest to consolidate his support within the Republican Party has instead left him weakened, with nearly half the party’s primary voters seeking someone different for president in 2024 and a significant number vowing to abandon him if he wins the nomination.

By focusing on political payback inside his party instead of tending to wounds opened by his alarming attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, Mr. Trump appears to have only deepened fault lines among Republicans during his yearlong revenge tour. A clear majority of primary voters under 35 years old, 64 percent, as well as 65 percent of those with at least a college degree — a leading indicator of political preferences inside the donor class — told pollsters they would vote against Mr. Trump in a presidential primary.

Mr. Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, appears to have contributed to the decline in his standing, including among a small but important segment of Republicans who could form the base of his opposition in a potential primary contest. While 75 percent of primary voters said Mr. Trump was “just exercising his right to contest the election,” nearly one in five said he “went so far that he threatened American democracy.”

Overall, Mr. Trump maintains his primacy in the party: In a hypothetical matchup against five other potential Republican presidential rivals, 49 percent of primary voters said they would support him for a third nomination.

• Republican Voters on Their Preferred Candidate for President
• If the Republican 2024 presidential primary were held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were

[FOLLOWED BY CHART]

[....]

The 18 anti-NATO Trumpers in the House:

I should note many in the replies are calling them "The Putin Caucus"