The committee investigating the events surrounding the Capitol riot did not reach out to the Secret Service about some of the biggest allegations made by Cassidy Hutchinson about former President Donald Trump prior to her high-profile testimony on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Washington Examiner has learned from an individual close to the Secret Service that it had not been contacted for its thoughts on the videotaped claims by the former aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows before her public testimony, and a source close to the Secret Service said Tuesday was the first time the agency had heard the claims about Trump allegedly trying to grab the steering wheel in the presidential vehicle and lunging toward a Secret Service agent on Jan. 6.
Several people involved in the events of the day have reportedly disputed Hutchinson’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee, which is led by Democrats. Tuesday’s hearing with Hutchinson was a surprise, announced just a day before. The committee previously said it would not hold any more hearings after last week’s events until July.
Hutchinson claimed in the hearing that the story had been recounted to her on Jan. 6 by Anthony “Tony” Ornato, then the White House’s deputy chief of staff for operations, as Robert “Bobby” Engel, then head of Trump’s security detail, listened. She was not in the vehicle when the supposed altercation took place.
Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, told the Washington Examiner that there was “new information” alleged by Hutchinson in the hearing. Guglielmi asserted that “we are willing to make anyone in the Secret Service available to comment on the record” about the events in question, including the allegations of a physical altercation.
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“The Secret Service has been cooperating fully with the select committee since its inception in spring of 2021 and we will continue to do so by responding formally and on the record to the committee regarding new allegations that surfaced in today’s testimony,” Guglielmi said.
Guglielmi told Politico that the committee did not ask the Secret Service personnel to reappear or answer questions in the 10 days prior to interviewing Hutchinson at the Tuesday hearing.
Hutchinson said Ornato said the Secret Service had denied Trump’s request to go to the Capitol following his speech at a park near the National Mall and that “Tony described him as being irate.”
“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,’ to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your arm off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel. And when Mr. Ornato recounted this story to me, he had motioned toward his clavicles,” Hutchinson claimed.
She said Engel was in the room as Ornato told her the story and that Engel “did not correct or disagree with any part of the story.”
However, within hours of her testimony, multiple reporters said they were told that both Engel and the driver of the SUV are prepared to testify under oath that Trump did not grab the steering wheel or assault any agent on Jan. 6.
CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz tweeted Tuesday that a “Secret Service official familiar with the matter told CNN that Tony Ornato denies telling Cassidy Hutchinson that the former president grabbed the steering wheel or an agent on his detail.”
NBC News reporter Peter Alexander tweeted that “a source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.”
Hutchinson’s lawyer Jody Hunt tweeted in response, “Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told. Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath.” Hunt was a former U.S. assistant attorney general for the Civil Division under Trump and an ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who earned Trump’s ire when he recused himself from overseeing the Trump-Russia inquiry in 2017.
“Ms. Hutchinson stands by all of the testimony she provided yesterday, under oath, to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” Hunt said Wednesday.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the committee, told CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane that “Ms. Hutchinson testified under oath in front of millions of people. All we’ve heard is some anonymously sourced reports that someone disagrees with that.” A committee aide told NBC News that they found Hutchinson’s testimony “credible.”
Trump said during his Jan. 6 speech that “after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down, anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.” Trump also said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The former president denied Hutchinson’s claims on Truth Social, saying, “Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is ‘sick’ and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself.”
A “source close to Ornato” told Fox News that “Ornato watched the hearing yesterday and was shocked when Cassidy made the allegation about the steering wheel.” Both Engel and Ornato have reportedly testified before the committee in the past year, and the outlet noted that “Engel and Ornato never brought up part about steering wheel” and that “both want to testify on the record again and refute the part about Trump grabbing or trying to grab the wheel.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the vice chairwoman of the committee, said Tuesday that Hutchinson had already sat for four videotaped interviews with the committee, including earlier in June, after she switched lawyers. She had been represented by Stefan Passantino, a former deputy White House counsel for Trump.
Another portion of Hutchinson’s testimony is also in dispute.
Cheney displayed a handwritten note and asked if it had been written by her.
“That’s a note that I wrote at the direction of the chief of staff [Meadows] on Jan. 6, likely around three o’clock. … That’s my handwriting,” Hutchinson said.
But former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann quickly disputed that Tuesday.
“The handwritten note that Cassidy Hutchinson testified was written by her was in fact written by Eric Herschmann on January 6, 2021,” a spokesperson for Herschmann told ABC News. “All sources with direct knowledge and law enforcement have and will confirm that it was written by Mr. Herschmann.”
A spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee said, “The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms. Hutchinson’s account of this matter credible.”
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Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, winning 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. The Capitol riot occurred as Congress was certifying Biden’s win, and the Jan. 6 committee has worked to connect Trump to the violence.
The Justice Department said this month that more than 840 defendants have been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot, including approximately 250 defendants charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. Some members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged with “seditious conspiracy.”
