The House subcommittee investigating the January 6th committee has released a report they claim pokes holes in Cassidy Hutchinson’s dramatic testimony about Donald Trump’s actions on that day.
Their report claims that former White House aide Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump lunged for the steering wheel of the Beast when a driver would not take him to the Capitol was not corroborated by four other former White House staffers.
The report is made up of transcribed interviews conducted by the January 6 Committee, led by Democrats last Congress. House Republicans have now obtained those interviews which were only previously released in redacted form. They claim Democrats used redactions to spin testimony.
The House subcommittee investigating the January 6th committee has released a report they claim pokes holes in Cassidy Hutchinson’s dramatic testimony about Donald Trump ‘s actions on that day
Hutchinson testified under oath that Trump had done just that and gotten into a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go to the Capitol to join supporters after speaking at a rally on the Ellipse on January 6th, 2021.
She said that Anthony Ornato, White House deputy chief of operations, called her into his office and then shared a story Agent Bobby Engel, head of Trump’s Secret Service detail, had allegedly shared with him moments before.
Hutchinson testified that Ornato waived her into his office and then shared a story about the ‘President that Agent Robert (‘Bobby’) Engel, the head of President Trump’s Secret Service detail, supposedly told him just moments before. Ornato was not at the Ellipse that day but instead remained at the White House during President Trump’s speech. This new story is the version of events the Select Committee rushed Hutchinson to share at the Select Committee’s highly publicized ’emergency’ hearing,’ according to the report.
Hutchinson testified that Trump was so angry that his Secret Service agents refused to take him to the Capitol on January 6 that he lunged for one of their throats
One former White House official ‘dismissed the premise’ that Trump had ever planned to go to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse, according to the report. Another former White House employee testified that he was in Ornato’s office after Trump returned to the White House.
Ornato then went into detail describing Trump’s mood, which he characterized as ‘irate,’ but never mentioned him trying to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle.
Hutchinson had also testified before the Jan. 6 panel that Trump had said former Vice President Mike Pence deserved to be ‘hanged’ as he watched a crowd on TV shout ‘Hang Mike Pence.’
A former White House staffer referred to as ‘Employee One’ who was with Trump that day said he did not hear the president remark on the chants at all.
The committee, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., also questioned why the January 6 committee had not interviewed the Secret Service agent driving the vehicle when Trump allegedly lunged for the wheel until after his lawyer broached the idea.
The driver then testified to the Jan. 6 committee ‘that he specifically refuted the version of events as recounted by Hutchinson,’ the report states.
The report also accused the January 6 Committee of suppressing evidence that Trump tried to call in the National Guard during the riot.
Employee One testified that Trump had wanted to speak to former Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and then- Speaker Nancy Pelosi about bringing in the Guard.
The staffer said they ‘didn’t hear about National Guard being mentioned until on January 6 when things were happening.’ But the January 6th Committee had prefaced the question by admitting Trump ‘raised the idea of 10,000 National Guardsmen supporting law enforcement on January 6,’ according to the report.
A transcript released by Loudermilk on Friday of an interview with Ornato corroborates the notion that Trump requested the Guard, based on a conversation he had with former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
‘When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?’ a staffer with the committee asked Ornato.
‘I remember he had – he was on the phone with [Bowser], and we – I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she needed any more guardsmen,’ Ornato responded.
He then said Trump wanted to make sure the 10,000 number was ‘enough.’
‘And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time. And then that’s the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen,’ he continued.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser only asked for 300, and requested that they not be armed and work with local police.
Ornato said the White House then requested the Department of Defense have a ‘quick reaction force’ on hand in case Bowser’s request was not enough.
‘The only thing I remember with DOD and the National Guard was even though the mayor didn’t want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation,’ Ornato said in his interview, according to the transcript.
‘I remember Chief Meadows talking to DOD about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know that, ‘Hey, there was going to be National Guard that’s going to be at Joint Base Andrews in case they’re going to need some more, we’re going to – the Mayor would need any, we’re going to make sure they’re out there.”
The new report also questions why the January 6 committee invested ‘almost no resources’ into two pipe bombs found outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
‘Despite the suspect’s appearance on numerous USCP CCTV cameras and the FBI’s efforts interviewing over 800 individuals and assessing more than 300 tips, the suspect remains at large more than three years after the pipe bombs were planted,’ the report said.
‘The Subcommittee is concerned about the integrity of the security sweep conducted by the United States Secret Service on the morning of January 6. As a result of the USSS’s failure to properly sweep the DNC, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris came within feet of a viable pipe bomb.’