A former assistant testified on Tuesday that Donald Trump attempted to grasp the steering wheel of his presidential limousine on January 6, 2021, after his security detail refused to drive him to the United States Capitol, where his fans were rioting. The incident occurred after his security detail had informed him they would not be taking him there.
Asked to cease screening participants with metal detectors so the crowd seemed bigger, the then-president rejected concerns that some fans assembled for his heated address outside the White House that day were carrying AR-15-style guns, an assistant said.
That morning, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House Chief of Staff, cited Trump as saying, “Take the effing mags away; they’re not here to hurt me.”
Hutchinson stated that Tony Ornato, a senior Secret Service employee who served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for operations, conveyed the exchange to her during her testimony on the sixth day of House of Representatives hearings regarding the fatal Capitol attack on January 6.
Robert Engel, the chief of Trump’s security detail, and the limo driver were prepared to testify under oath that Trump never reached for the steering wheel, according to reports in the New York Times and NBC. Hutchinson claimed Engel was there when Ornato told the tale.
According to unidentified sources cited by the New York Times and CNN, Ornato also denies the tale and is ready to testify if asked.
She cited an exchange with Ornato in her testimony to show that Trump was frustrated by Secret Service officials who wanted him to return to the White House rather than join protesters storming the Capitol where Congress was going to declare Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election.
In response to Trump’s bogus assertions that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud, his followers rallied.
‘I’m the effing President,’ you know. Hutchinson described an irate Trump as demanding, “Take me up to the Capitol immediately.” She claims Trump rushed at a Secret Service agent after trying to seize the steering wheel from the rear seat of the highly armoured presidential car.
Trump, a Republican, denied her account of his actions
On his social media app, Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Her ‘sick’ and phoney’ narrative that I attempted to grasp the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to guide it to the Capitol Building is false.”
The Secret Service stated in a statement that it was fully working with the committee and would do so going forward.
That information was provided during today’s hearing, which we knew about, and we expect to react publicly and on the record when they can accommodate us.
Her attorney Jody Hunt tweeted that she had testified under oath and “recounted what she was told.” Hutchinson’s lawyer said that those who have information about the incident should be required to testify under oath.
Dozens of courts, electoral authorities, and assessments by Trump’s own administration all rejected his accusations of election fraud, including those involving an Italian security business and the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
On the day of the assault, four people died, one from a police shooting and the other three from natural causes. More than a hundred cops were hurt, and one of them died the following day. The deaths of four more cops from suicide followed.
Look at how he’s acting
Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the nine-member House panel, provided probable evidence of witness tampering and obstruction of justice at the conclusion of approximately two hours of hearing.
Messages from Cheney were shown to unnamed witnesses warning them that an unidentified individual would monitor their testimony carefully and expected them to maintain their integrity.
“It is seldom the crime itself, but rather the cover-up that is the problem,” Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, tweeted.
Republican Mick Mulvaney, who served as Trump’s chief of staff before Meadows, tweeted: “There is an old maxim: it’s never the crime, it’s always the cover-up. Things went very badly for the former President today. My guess is that it will get worse from here.”
According to Hutchinson, Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s campaign manager Lindsey Graham had both requested pardons from Trump.
Asked WSYR radio in Syracuse, New York, on Tuesday whether he had applied for a pardon, Giuliani said that he had not.
It was the first occasion in six sessions this month that a former White House official testified in person.
White House officials were on edge, fearing that Trump might join a violent mob that was on its way into the Capitol, looking for Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other members of Congress who had certified the triumph of Vice President Joe Biden over Trump.
“There would be charges filed against us for every felony conceivable,” Hutchinson said White House counsellor Pat Cipollone warned her if Trump went to the capitol on January 6.
It would be a bad idea for us if anything like this happened. Cipollone told Hutchinson, “We have severe legal difficulties if we walk up to the Capitol that day.”
Hutchinson, who had a front-row seat to Trump’s Oval Office, claimed that Meadows was aware of impending violence days before it occurred in the U.S. Capitol.
He had remarked on Jan. 6: “‘We’re going to the Capitol, and it’s going to be a wonderful experience. There will be a strong presence of the president, and he’ll seem powerful.'”
According to Ms. Clinton, “It was the first time I recalled feeling worried and apprehensive about what may happen on Jan. 6. I was terrified.”
Ivanka Trump, Trump’s eldest daughter, and Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general, also testified by video at this month’s sessions.
According to an interview with the Associated Press conducted only days before his resignation, Barr said there was no proof of wrongdoing.
Angry, Trump hurled his lunch against the White House wall, smashing a porcelain dish and spilling its contents, according to video evidence given to the committee by Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s press secretary.
“There were several times throughout my tenure as the chief of staff that I was aware of Trump either throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to allow all the contents of the table to go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere,” Hutchinson said to the House Oversight Committee on Thursday.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ [email protected]
