They agree Trump was furious about not being able to go to Capitol with his supporters. Noteworthy pushback on this one: Per WaPo’s Carol Leonnig, “Secret Service agents dispute that Donald Trump assaulted any agent or tried to grab the steering wheel on Jan 6.
The president then reached up to grab at the steering wheel before the head of his detail, ROBERT ENGEL, “grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.’” She says Ornato told her Trump then used his other hand to “lunge” at Engle’s clavicle. Take me up to the Capitol now,” Trump said, per Hutchinson. Hutchinson recounted a secondhand story from TONY ORNATO, the White House deputy chief of staff at the time, about Trump’s reaction when he realized that, for security reasons, the Secret Service was not taking him to the Capitol, as he wanted, after his speech on the Ellipse.
When the motorcade refused to go to the Capitol, Trump angrily grabbed the steering wheel and allegedly assaulted a Secret Service agent. “And he was also worried that it would look like we were inciting a riot or encouraging a riot to erupt on the Capitol." “Pat was concerned it would look like we were obstructing justice or obstructing the electoral college count,” she said. Hutchinson recounted that Cipollone told her to ensure that the motorcade would not go to the Capitol: They’d get “charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.” But this was the first time that it was clear it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision it was an idea that some people in Trump World (notably, RUDY GIULIANI) knew about and advocated, and which White House Counsel PAT CIPOLLONE believed had concerning legal ramifications. We knew Trump wanted to go to the Capitol on Jan. Trump demanded his team take him to the Capitol. If true, that means that Trump told the crowd to march to the Capitol to “fight like hell” knowing that some were armed.
They can march to the Capitol from here, let the people in and take the mags away.” “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons they’re not here to hurt me,” Trump said, according to Hutchinson. Warned by the Secret Service that some Trump supporters were choosing to watch from a distance because they didn’t want to go through metal detectors and have their weapons (including AR-15s and handguns) confiscated, the president was allegedly unmoved. In Hutchinson’s recounting, Trump wanted the rally on the Ellipse to be packed for his speech. Trump knew that some supporters on Jan.
“The Capitol riot committee has painted the former president’s potential criminal culpability for his effort to overturn the election in stark hues: investigators have portrayed Trump fuming atop an increasingly conspiracy-addled West Wing and working to corrupt the peaceful transfer of power at any cost.”Īmong the stunning revelations in Hutchinson’s testimony: With vivid stories told in measured tones, CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, a former special assistant to the president and aide to chief of staff MARK MEADOWS, “stitched together every element of the panel’s case against Donald Trump,” our Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu write. 6 committee could’ve been more damning for President DONALD TRUMP. It’s hard to imagine how Tuesday’s surprise hearing of the House Jan. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images DRIVING THE DAY Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testified in yesterday's select committee hearing that President Donald Trump knew that some supporters on Jan.