Witness: Trump attempted to go to Capitol on Jan 6
Donald Trump attempted to grab the steering wheel of his limousine and lunged at a Secret Service agent, putting his hand on the man’s throat after the then US president was told he would not be taken to the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, as rioters stormed the building, a former top White House aide testified during Tuesday’s hearing before the House select committee investigating the riot.
Robert Engel, head of Trump’s Secret Service detail, grabbed Trump’s hand from the steering wheel and told him, “Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol”, recounted Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Engel. And when Anthony Ornato, Trump’s chief of operations, recounted the story to me, he motioned to his clavicles,” she said.
“I’m the (expletive) president. Take me up to the Capitol now,” Ornato told her.
She said Engel was in the room when Ornato told her the story, and he did not correct or disagree with the story and has not stated it was untrue since.
In a post on his social network Truth Social, Trump called Hutchinson’s story “fake”, “sick” and “fraudulent’’.
She also told the committee that despite the violence at the Capitol and threats to then vice-president Mike Pence, Trump refused repeated requests from his staff members to intervene in the attack on the Capitol.
Anger within ranks
Members of the president’s Cabinet were so upset by the assault on the Capitol and Trump’s encouragement of the mob and refusal to intervene that they quietly discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, Hutchinson testified.
Tuesday’s hearing was unexpected because the Jan 6 panel had previously signaled it would not hold any more hearings until July, after it evaluated additional testimony. But the committee held the meeting on Tuesday and called on Hutchinson to testify in person.
She recently sat for a fourth interview with the committee behind closed doors and, with new counsel advising her, informed the panel of previously unknown information that lawmakers felt needed to get out quickly, according to various media reports.