<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656537164340,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656537164340,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56443913", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1042494"} }); ","_id":"00000181-b14f-d447-ad8b-f1cf25930000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA former Trump administration staffer is casting aspersions on the stated source behind shocking accounts of former President Donald Trump grabbing at the steering wheel of his presidential limousine and reaching for the neck of his head of security on the day of the Capitol riot.
During her public testimony Tuesday, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, recounted a story she claimed Anthony “Tony” Ornato, then the White House’s deputy chief of staff for operations, told her about a fuming Trump becoming physical with agents as he learned he was not being driven to the Capitol after his speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6. Trump reacted on Truth Social, calling it a “fake story,” and there have been reports that people involved in the story about the chaotic drive on Jan. 6 are prepared to push back on it.
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON ‘STANDS BY ALL OF THE TESTIMONY,’ COUNSEL SAYS
“Tony Ornato lied about me too. During the protests at Lafayette sq in 2020, I told Mark Meadows & Ornato they needed to warn press staged there before clearing the square. Meadows replied: ‘we aren’t doing that.’ Tony later lied &said the exchange never happened. He knows it did,” tweeted Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communications.
Griffin resigned from the White House in December 2020. She later told Politico that she made the decision because of her discomfort with Trump’s challenges to the integrity of the 2020 election results. Griffin voluntarily met with the Republican members of the Jan. 6 committee to provide information, CNN reported.
Griffin’s tweet Wednesday was in response to one from Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence. Troye pointed to a report in the Washington Post in which a military official was upset with Ornato’s plans to move Pence to Join Base Andrews around the time of the riot. Ornato later denied that military official’s version of events.
“Tony Ornato sure seems to deny conversations he’s apparently had. First this one with Keith Kellogg in ‘I Alone Can Fix It’ & now he’s denying the story he told Cassidy Hutchinson. Those of us who worked w/ Tony know where his loyalties lie. He should testify under oath,” Troye tweeted.
https://twitter.com/Alyssafarah/status/1542247899383402498?s=20&t=XpJleT-0wvj7ennb0ZKg3wA source close to Ornato denied that he told Hutchinson that Trump tried to commandeer the steering wheel and subsequently attempted to reach for the throat of Secret Service agent Bobby Engel, Fox News reported. Engel, who led Trump’s security detail at the time, has also denied the claim, according to CNN.
Trump had wanted to head toward the Capitol after delivering his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, but officials feared there were security concerns and did not allow him to go, Hutchinson recounted during her testimony Tuesday.
“I’m the f***ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,” the former president said, according to Hutchinson. Following that retort, Trump then allegedly engaged in the physical behavior Hutchinson detailed.
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1541845690107699205?s=20&t=0tFq4qY9L48qvIc_dw2ofgBoth Engel and Ornato are prepared to testify that Trump did not go for Engel’s throat or attempt to seize the wheel, per CNN.
Lawyers for Hutchinson insist that she is standing by all of her testimony. The Secret Service has said it will respond to the allegations on the record and provide additional information to the Jan. 6 committee.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Secret Service for additional comment and contact information for Ornato.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Another claim from Hutchinson is also being disputed. During the hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) displayed an image of a note that Hutchinson claimed to have written. “Anyone who entered the Capitol without proper authority should leave immediately,” the note said. It was intended to be released as a statement attributed to Trump. But Eric Herschmann, a lawyer in the Trump White House, maintains he wrote that note, according to ABC.
Still, despite heightened scrutiny of Hutchinson’s testimony, the panel insists it finds her credible.
“The Select Committee found Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony to be credible. The committee welcomes anyone who wishes to provide additional information under oath,” a spokesperson for the committee told a Washington Post reporter.
