Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s bombshell J6 testimony unravels
Key elements of a former White House aide’s bombshell testimony to the January 6 committee have been embarrassingly contradicted.
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Key elements of a former White House aide’s bombshell testimony to the January 6 committee about Donald Trump’s actions during the Capital riot have been flatly denied by those involved.
Cassidy Hutchinson, 25, who worked for Mr Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, testified under oath before Congress on Tuesday where she made a number of allegations about the former President’s behaviour surrounding the events of January 6, 2021.
Most notably, Ms Hutchinson claimed that an “irate” Mr Trump had assaulted a Secret Service agent and attempted to take the wheel of the presidential limousine after they refused to drive him to the Capitol following his speech to supporters nearby.
Ms Hutchinson attributed the claim to a conversation she had with Mr Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Anthony Ornato, who she said had described the clash between the then President and the head of his security detail, Robert Engel.
“He said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f***ing President. Take me up to the Capitol now.’ To which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing,’” she told the committee.
“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 hand off the steering wheel. We are going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel.”
Within hours, however, the Secret Service pushed back on her claims.
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“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,” NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander wrote on Twitter.
Town Hall journalist Julio Rosas added, “A Secret Service source told me earlier: ‘FYI, I’m calling bullsh** on the Secret Service story. You think none of us would have never heard of this as an internal rumor? No f***ing way.’”
The Associated Press also reported Mr Engel and Mr Ornato – who was not in the vehicle – were both “willing to testify under oath that no agent was assaulted and Trump never lunged for the steering wheel”.
On Wednesday, a source close to Mr Ornato told Fox News that he watched the hearing and was shocked when Ms Hutchinson made the allegation about the steering wheel.
Both men testified to the January 6 committee in private over the past year, the source close to Mr Ornato said.
Mr Engel and Mr Ornato never brought up part about steering wheel, according to that source. Both want to testify on the record again and refute the part about Mr Trump grabbing or trying to grab the wheel. The driver of the SUV, who has not been named, will also co-operate with the committee.
A source close to the Secret Service said Ms Hutchinson was truthful when she said that Mr Trump was furious inside the SUV. Mr Trump did want to go to the Capitol on January 6 and was yelling and shouting. However, the steering wheel part is false, per this source.
It came as Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi confirmed that the January 6 Committee did not contact the agency in the days ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.
Ms Hutchinson also made several other allegations against Trump during her testimony, many of which Mr Trump denied in a flurry of posts on his social network, Truth Social.
“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 – wouldn’t have even been possible to do such a ridiculous thing,” he wrote in one post.
“Her story of me throwing food is also food is also false … and why would she have to clean it up, I hardly knew who she was?”
Meanwhile, another element of her testimony has been called into question.
Former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann says a handwritten note Ms Hutchinson claimed was hers was actually written by him.
During the hearing, Representative Liz Cheney displayed the note, which Ms Hutchinson said she wrote during a White House meeting after Mr Meadows handed her a card and pen to take his dictation for a potential statement for Mr Trump to release about the riot.
The note read, “Anyone who entered the Capitol without proper authority should leave immediately.”
“That’s a note that I wrote at the direction of the chief of staff on January 6, likely around 3 o’clock,” Ms Hutchinson testified.
“And it’s written on the chief of staff note card, but that’s your handwriting, Ms Hutchinson?” Ms Cheney asked.
“That’s my handwriting,” Ms Hutchinson replied.
But Mr Herschmann, who has previously co-operated with the committee and described some of Mr Trump’s plots to overturn the election as “nuts”, hit back on Tuesday evening.
“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 Mr Herschmann said in a statement to ABC News.
“All sources with direct knowledge and law enforcement have and will confirm that it was written by Mr Herschmann.”
ABC News reported Mr Herschmann had previously told the committee that he had penned the note.
In response, the January 6 committee played down the significance of the dispute.
“The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms Hutchinson’s account of this matter credible,” the committee said in a statement.
“While we understand that she and Mr Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note, what’s ultimately important is that both White House officials believed that the President should have immediately instructed his supporters to leave the Capitol building. The note memorialised this. But Mr Trump did not take that action at the time.”
Amid pushback from Republicans on Wednesday, Ms Hutchinson’s lawyers insisted she stood by her testimony.
“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,” Jody Hunt and William Jordan said in a statement to media outlets.
— with Fox News
Originally published as Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s bombshell J6 testimony unravels
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