Wednesday 29 June 2022 12:42 AM Secret Service prepared to testify under oath that did NOT grab the ... trends now

Wednesday 29 June 2022 12:42 AM Secret Service prepared to testify under oath that did NOT grab the ... trends now
Wednesday 29 June 2022 12:42 AM Secret Service prepared to testify under oath that Trump did NOT grab the ... trends now

Wednesday 29 June 2022 12:42 AM Secret Service prepared to testify under oath that Trump did NOT grab the ... trends now

Secret Services is reportedly prepared to push back against claims that President Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle and lunged at Secret Service when agents refused to take him to the Capitol.

Such allegations were made by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to Mark Meadows, who said she had heard the tale second hand. 

Bobby Engel, the lead agent on Trump's detail, and the presidential driver at the time are prepared to testify under oath to the committee that Hutchinson's testimony is incorrect, according to multiple news outlets.   

The Secret Service promised in a public statement after the hearing to respond to the allegations. 

'The United States Secret Service has been cooperating with the Select Committee since its inception in spring 2021, and will continue to do so, including by responding on the record to the Committee regarding the new allegations surfaced in today's testimony.' 

The White House chief of staff's former top aide, just 25 years old, testified on Tuesday that Donald Trump's White House chief of staff told her that 'things could get real, real bad on January 6' just four days before the Capitol riot.

She also claimed her former boss, along with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, sought pardons from the former president linked to their efforts on January 6.

Among the more explosive points of the former staffer's testimony include Trump's alleged insistence on joining his supporters at the Capitol - who he was told in advance were armed.

'I'm the effing president, take me to the Capitol now,' she said he ordered.

When Secret Service refused, Hutchinson said agents told her that he lunged at the steering wheel of his car - known as The Beast. 

'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,' Hutchinson was told Secret Service agent Robert Engel said.

'Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel,' Hutchinson recalled.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato 'motioned toward his clavicle,' she added, as a sign the president went for his security detail's throat. 

Trump denied Hutchinson's testimony in a statement on his social media platform, 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 is "sick" and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself - Wouldn't have even been possible to do such a ridiculous thing.' 

Other evidence of Trump's explosive temper came when Hutchinson testified that the former president was so angry that his then-Attorney General Bill Barr told the Associated Press that there was no widespread election fraud that he threw food at the wall.

Hutchinson said she 'first noticed there was ketchup dripping down the wall, and there was a shattered porcelain plate.'

'The valet had articulated that the president was extremely angry at the attorney general's AP interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall, which was causing them to have to clean up, so I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off the wall to help the valet out,' she said.

Her testimony - and the hearing as a whole - also paints a picture of Trump having to be dissuaded from marching to the Capitol with his supporters that day - despite Meadows claiming in his book that the former president was not serious when he told his supporters he'd do so.

Other damning allegations from Hutchinson during her appearance in front of the January 6 committee on Tuesday included: 

Hutchinson testified that former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told her 'things could get real, real bad on January 6' Four days before the Capitol riot, the ex-White House staffer said Rudy Giuliani told her January 6 would be a 'great day' Both Giuliani and Meadows sought pardons from Trump over January 6, Hutchinson told lawmakers  Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney played a video of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleading the Fifth Amendment when asked if he supports the peaceful transfer of power Cheney also implied that the committee has evidence of Trump and his allies' witness tampering in the House's investigation  Trump reportedly knew people with weapons tried to get into his Stop The Steal rally before the riot He was 'furious' that his armed supporters were being kept away because it made his crowd look smaller The former president lashed out against 'phony' Hutchinson on his Truth Social app during the hearing 

Former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson was revealed to be the January 6 committee's surprise Tuesday witness

Former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson was revealed to be the January 6 committee's surprise Tuesday witness

The 25-year-old has firsthand information about the former president and his top aides' movements on the day of and leading up to the Capitol riot

The 25-year-old has firsthand information about the former president and his top aides' movements on the day of and leading up to the Capitol riot

'I was aware of a desire of the president to potentially march to the or accompany rally attendees to the Capitol,' former Trump aide Nick Luna testified in a videotaped deposition shown on Tuesday.

A National Security Council chat log shown by the committee suggests he was hell-bent on going with supporters and staffers were 'begging him to reconsider.' 

During her live testimony, Hutchinson recalled a conversation with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy during which he allegedly begged her to dissuade Trump from going to the Capitol.

She said McCarthy was 'frustrated and angry.' Hutchinson told him she was not aware of Trump's plan to go to the Capitol at the time.

Who is Cassidy Hutchinson, the 25-year-old aide with the most damning allegations against Trump on January 6? 

At just 25 years old, Cassidy Hutchinson has a resumé under her belt that even seasoned political operatives have taken decades to put together.

Hutchinson was an executive assistant to Donald Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the weeks leading up to and after the January 6 insurrection.

Her live Tuesday testimony before the Capitol riot committee is the most damning yet in the fact that she was in the room for some of the most private -and intense - conversations had by the former president and his allies as they laid out a strategy to steal the 2020 election.

As committee Chairman Bennie Thompson pointed out, Hutchinson's work in Washington began with internships in the office of House GOP Whip Steve Scalise and Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

'Then, in 2019, you moved to the White House and served there until the end of the Trump administration,' Thompson said during the hearing.

She began with a role in the Office of Legislative Affairs in March 2019 - just before graduating - before being elevated to executive assistant for Meadows in March 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She also interned for Trump's White House as a student at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. There, Hutchinson majored in political science and American studies.

She told her student newspaper during her senior year in 2018 that getting the coveted internship brought her to 'tears' and her goal was to 'pursue a path of civic significance.'

'As a first-generation college student, being selected to serve as an intern alongside some of the most intelligent and driven students from across the nation – many of whom attend top universities – was an honor and a tremendous growing experience,' Hutchinson said at the time. 

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'He just said it on stage, Cassidy, figure it out,'  McCarthy apparently told her.

Trump 'didn't care' the rioters were 'armed' and his White House counsel feared staff would be charged if supporters reached

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