Trump ‘grabbed agent by throat’ in fit of rage during Capitol riot

DONALD TRUMP tried to seize the steering wheel of his presidential car and grabbed his Secret Service agent by the throat on the day of the Capitol riots, a former White House aide testified yesterday.

Cassidy Hutchinson said Mr Trump was “irate” when Bobby Engel, his head of security, told him it was unsafe for him to join supporters on Jan 6 2021.

According to her evidence, Mr Trump said: “I’m the f-----g president, take me up to the Capitol now.”

The former president was in the “Beast”, the secure limousine used by

US presidents, and reached to the front of the car “to grab at the steering wheel”. When Mr Engel told him to remove his hand, Mr Trump “used his free hand to lunge towards” the agent’s neck.

Anthony Ornato, who coordinated physical security at the White House and was in the car at the time, related the account to Ms Hutchinson.

Ms Hutchinson, 25, saw the agent soon afterwards and he appeared “discombobulated” by the experience, she said in a surprise appearance before the congressional committee investigating the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol last year.

She served as an aide to Mr Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows and was present in the White House after Mr

Trump’s election defeat and his ensuing attempt to stay in power.

In a live televised appearance, she said the former president and his aides were warned of the potential for violence in the days before Jan 6, when Congress would certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

Ms Hutchinson testified: “I overheard the president say something to the effect of, ‘You know, I don’t f-----g care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f-----g mags [magnetometers] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the f-----g mags away’.”

Mr Trump was “furious” that those who carried assault rifles or pistols were unable to pass security barriers because it left empty spaces at his rally outside the White House, she added. After his speech, in which he urged supporters to “fight like hell” against the certification of Mr Biden’s win, Mr Trump planned to join those heading to the Capitol, Ms Hutchinson said.

Pat Cipollone, Mr Trump’s White House counsel, voiced legal concerns about Mr Trump’s plan to march to the Capitol. “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable”, Ms Hutchinson recalled Mr Cipollone saying at the time.

Mr Trump was also informed that his supporters were chanting “Hang Mike Pence” of his vice-president. According to Ms Hutchinson, Mr Trump replied that “mike deserves it”.

It was when Mr Trump got into the car that his security team told him they could not safely transport him to Capitol Hill, triggering his angry outburst.

Ms Hutchinson said: “The president had a very strong, very angry response. Tony described him as being irate.

“The president said something to the effect of ‘I’m the f-----g president, take me up to the Capitol now’.”

In further evidence of Mr Trump’s fits of rage, a video testimony by Kayleigh Mcenany, his former press secretary, told how Mr Trump once threw his lunch at a wall in the White House. Ms Hutchinson said she was aware of multiple instances of Mr Trump “either throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor”.

Mr Trump denied trying to grab the wheel as a “fake story” which “wouldn’t even have been possible”. He denied much of Ms Hutchinson’s testimony, including claims he had thrown food.

‘He said something to the effect of “I’m the f-----g president, take me up to the Capitol now”’