The January 6 committee claimed that former President Trump physically assaulted a Secret Service member on the day of the capitol incident. However, they did not investigate these claims through the United States Secret Service before they were aired.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide of former President Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the committee that Secret Service official Anthony Ornato told her that Trump attacked an agent for refusing to drive him to the scene of the capitol riot. Hutchinson also alleged that she was told that Trump attempted to drive the steering wheel of the vehicle, only to be denied, which caused him to lunge at the wheel and attack the driver.
However, Anthony Guglielmi, United States Secret Service Chief of Communications, confirmed that the Secret Service was not made aware of these claims before they were aired as part of a special hearing.
Hutchinson’s claims appear to have fallen apart under pressure from questioning after both Ornato and Robert Engel, Trump’s head of security, are willing to deny the story as is the Secret Service organization.
Guglielmi refused to confirm or deny the claims.
“We will share our first hand account with the Committee, on the record,” he said in an email to the Daily Wire. “It’s not appropriate for us to make these comments in the media before we have a chance to address members of Congress.”
Trump responded to the claims in a post on Truth Social. “The lies and fabricated stories being told to the partisan Highly Unselect Committee, not only by the phony social climber who got caught yesterday, but by many others, are a disgrace to our, in serious decline, Nation.”
“No cross examination, no real Republicans, no lawyers, NO NOTHING. Fake stories and an all Fake Narrative being produced, with ZERO pushback allowed. Unselects should be forced to disband. WITCH HUNT!”
Jamie Raskin, D-Md., also admitted to CNN’s Jake Tapper that evidence of Hutchinson’s claims had yet to be obtained, making the testimony hearsay.
“She did not see it happen,” Tapper said to Raskin. “Do you have any corroborating evidence? You have interviewed both Ornato, or the committee has interviewed both Engle and Ornato, two Secret Service agents. Do you have any corroborating evidence that that story is true or do you only have it from Cassidy Hutchinson?”
“Well, um, the story that she told is the evidence that I’m aware of, at least within her story, and I’ve not seen anything to contradict it,” Raskin responded. “And then, of course, it’s corroborated by everything else we know about Donald Trump’s eagerness to not just incite this march and assemble the march and form the march and exhort the people in the march, but also to participate in it, he wanted to go into it.”
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