Secret Service Lead And Presidential Driver Are Prepared To Testify Under Oath That Trump Did Not Grab Steering Wheel Or Lunge At Agents To Drive Himself To Capitol On January 6
- 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
- ‘I’m the effing president, take me to the Capitol now,’ Cassidy Hutchinson, Mark Meadows’ top aide, said Trump ordered
- ‘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
- Hutchinson was revealed to be the surprise witness for Tuesday’s last-minute January 6 hearing
- Hutchinson also testified that Trump was ‘furious’ that his armed supporters were not allowed into the official grounds for his Stop The Steal rally on Jan. 6
- ‘Who cares if they have weapons, they’re not here to hurt me,’ the former president allegedly said
- Follow along with DailyMail.com’s rolling live blog for minute-to-minute coverage of the hearing
Mick Mulvaney Trump’s Former Acting Chief Of Staff On Cassidy Hutchinson: I Know Her I Dont Think She Is Lying
Mick Mulvaney the acting chief of staff under former Pres. Donald Trump from Jan. 2019 to March 2020 tweeted during the committee hearing that there was no one closer to Trump than special assistant to the Chief of Staff Cassidy Hutchinson.
He said that as a top aide, Hutchinson would be covered by the same executive privilege as former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows or Assistant to the President Peter Navarro, and that If she can testify, then so can they.
Mulvaney said he expected to hear from former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Tony Ornato, former Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel and Meadows before the hearings were concluded.
One thing is clear in my mind: Meadows will get indicted for his failure to appear. My guess is that ultimately he shows, Mulvaney said.
Katherine Swartz
Takeaways From The Trump Impeachment Trial After Defense Wraps Up
Trump’s lawyers, however, did not stick to a narrow constitutional argument. Instead, they accused Democrats of using the impeachment process for partisan gain and of trying to disenfranchise the people who voted for Trump’s reelection. The defense declined to provide evidence of what the president knew about the violence, when he knew it and what he did about it.
The Democratic House impeachment managers argued that the former president, who addressed a rally outside the White House ahead of the insurrection, was “singularly responsible” for the violence on Jan. 6.
They relied, in large measure, on video to prove their case, including never-before-seen Capitol security footage. The videos showed on the Senate floor during what was an, at times, emotional trial brought back the vivid images of the Capitol violence to the very place it happened.
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Meadows Had ‘lack Of Reaction’ To Violence At The Capitol
Hutchinson, principal aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, said she tried repeatedly to tell Meadows about violence at the Capitol while Capitol Police were being overrun by attackers.
A couple of times before she was able to tell him, she opened a door to a car he was in, and he closed it. She said a backlog of information she needed to relay to him built up. When she was finally able to pass on information about violence at the Capitol, she said he barely reacted.
He almost had a lack of reaction, Hutchinson said. I remember him saying, All right, something to the effect of, How much longer does the president have left in his speech?
Erin Mansfield
Hutchinson: Dni Ratcliffe Considered Trump Fighting Election Results Dangerous
Hutchinson said the director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, avoided involvement in the administrations post-election agenda of fighting the results of the 2020 election.
Ratcliffe, a former Republican member of the House from Texas, thought searching for missing ballots and challenging election results in specific states would hurt former President Donald Trumps legacy, according to Hutchinson.
He had expressed concern that it could spiral out of control and potentially be dangerous either for our democracy or the way that things were going for the Sixth, Hutchinson said in videotaped testimony to the committee. He felt that there could be dangerous repercussions.
Bart Jansen
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Biden Spotted At Delaware Beach After Security Scare
The Secret Service said it would soon respond to the House select committee investigating last years Capitol riot after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed President Donald Trump made a lunge at his protection officer when he was unable to join his supporters at the Capitol that day.
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 testimony, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
Hutchinson, a top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that after she returned to the West Wing following Trumps speech at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the riot, White House deputy chief of staff for operations Tony Ornato told her about a clash inside the SUV the president was using that day.
I looked at Tony, and he said, Did you fing hear what happened in the Beast? Hutchinson said, using the nickname for the vehicle.
Nobody had told Trump that the Secret Service had determined it wasnt possible to go to the Capitol as the president had wanted, said Hutchinson, who explained that Trump was in the vehicle with Secret Service agent Bobby Engel.
Trump’s Defense Closes Its Case By Saying Impeachment Trial Is A ‘complete Charade’
Manager Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado rebutted the defense’s argument that Trump has been denied due process.
“We had a full presentation of evidence, adversarial presentations, motions. The president was invited to testify. He declined. The president was invited to provide exculpatory evidence. He declined. You can’t claim there’s no due process when you won’t participate in the process,” he said.
He noted that impeachment is separate and distinct from the criminal justice system.
“Why would the constitution include the impeachment power at all, if the criminal justice system serves as a suitable alternative once a President leaves office?” he asked. “It wouldn’t.”
Neguse also sought to address an allegation raised by defense attorneys, that the impeachment trial was rooted in hate. He turned to a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“This trial is not born from hatred,” said Neguse. “Far from it. It’s born from love of country. Our country. Our desire to maintain it. Our desire to see America at its best.”
On Saturday morning, senators voted to hear from Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler as a witness in the impeachment trial. Later, an agreement allowed a statement by her into the record without calling her.hide caption
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The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump won’t be hearing from witnesses after all.
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Angry Trump Threw Lunch Against The Wall After Barr Announced There Was No Voter Fraud
Furious after Attorney General Bill Barr announced he found no evidence of widespread voter fraud to the Associated Press, Trump threw his lunch against the wall, according to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said she saw a broken porcelain plate in the White House dining room following the Dec. 20, 2020, incident and “ketchup dripping down the wall.”
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, Hutchinson said.
Such tantrums were not uncommon by Trump, she said.
There were several times throughout my tenure with the chief of staff that I was aware of either him throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere, Hutchinson said.
Joey Garrison
Hutchinson: Trump And Top Aides Knew That Jan 6 Could Get Dangerous
Hutchinson recounted how a number of White House officials expressed fears that the Jan. 6, 2021, election protests could get violent because of extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – and that Trump had to know as well.
On tape, Hutchison talked about how national security adviser Robert O’Brien wanted to meet with Meadows about the potential for violence.
“I was apprehensive about the 6th,” Hutchinson told the committee at one point.
The committee is trying to prove that Trump and his allies knew that Jan. 6 could get dangerous yet egged on their supporters anyway.
David Jackson
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Thompson And Jan 6 Committee Warn Witnesses To Tell Truth
One apparent reason for this emergency hearing on Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony: Pressuring high-level Trump aides to testify about the president’s Jan. 6 actions.
In a closing statement, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told potential witnesses, “if you’ve suddenly remembered things you forgot, or gained some courage … our door is open.”
Thompson did not use names, but was obviously referring to people like White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Hutchinson testified at length about them and others involved with Trump’s handling of Jan. 6.
Praising Hutchinson, Thompson had a warning for others: “Because of this courageous woman and others like her, your attempt to hide the truth from the American people will fail.”
David Jackson
The Capitol Siege: The Arrested And Their Stories
“The Speaker has and will continue to take action to ensure accountability and enhance the security of the Capitol,” he said in a statement. “Following the insurrection, the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Chief of the Capitol Police were removed from their positions. It is the job of the Capitol Police Board, on which these three individuals sat, to properly plan and prepare for security threats facing the U.S. Capitol.”
Sen. Chris Coons, a close ally of President Biden, told ABC’s This Week he supports a Sept. 11-style commission to probe further into the events leading up to the attack.
“There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear,” the Delaware Democrat said. “The 9/11 Commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward, and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly and violating of his constitutional oath President Trump really was.”
Following the attack on the Capitol, heightened security measures were deployed around the complex, including the requirement of members to walk through metal detectors and various forms of fencing secured around the Capitol’s perimeter.
The Senate voted 57-43 Saturday to acquit former President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial.
A majority of senators voted Saturday to convict former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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Piers Morgan Conducts Unusual Interview With Trump
“Piers got caught red-handed,” Trump said in a statement Thursday, “and the interview that I rather enjoyed doing is now in shambles.”
Budowich alleged that the show’s producers deceptively edited the video by splicing the sound of Trump saying “turn the camera off” to make it falsely appear as if he made the statement while he was rising in anger.
As for Trump’s saying “very deceptive,” he made the comment after a frustrated Budowich called out Morgan for dragging out the interview and falsely and repeatedly saying he had one last question, only to ask more.
Trump had expected the interview to last 20 minutes, Budowich said, but it stretched on for more than an hour. Toward the end, Budowich called for the last question, but the audio appears to show that Morgan asked several more, including one related to “Celebrity Apprentice.”
“Is that the last question? Youve said ‘the last question’ four times now,” Budowich told Morgan. “So I feel like youre lying at this point.”
“I’m not lying,” Morgan said.
Trump then said, “Very deceptive.”
Morgan then asked more questions.
While the interview appeared to be tough, as Morgan called Trump out for lying about the stolen election, his final question was a figurative softball about the hole-in-one Trump recently boasted about shooting on a golf course.
After NBC first posted this story, Morgan denied wrongdoing when Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., took to Twitter to criticize “how misleading and deceptive the Morgan promo edit is.”
Despite Threat Of Violence Trump Was ‘furious’ There Was Extra Space At Ellipse
In text messages between former Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornado and former aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump was fing furious, at there being extra space at the Ellipse prior to the Capitol attack.
He was furious because he wanted the area that we had on the Ellipse to be maxed out at capacity for all attendees. Trump was told that everyone who wanted to attend was already there, but Hutchinson said he was still angry.
When looking at photos of the crowd, Trump was very concerned about the shot, meaning the photograph that we would get because the rally space wasnt full.
Kenneth Tran
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Trump And Meadows Told About Weapons Among Supporters At Jan 6 Rally Held At Ellipse Former Aide Testifies
From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz
The President’s chief of staff Mark Meadows and Donald Trump himself were aware of the possibility of violence on Jan. 6, 2021, including that Trump supporters had weapons when they gathered on the Ellipse that day, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has testified.
Hutchinson also testified that a White House official, Tony Ornato, said he talked to Trump about weapons at his rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
The House select committee investigation learned from law enforcement reports that people at the Trump rally on the Ellipse had pepper spray, knives, brass knuckles, Tasers and blunt objects that could be used as weapons, vice chair Liz Cheney said on Tuesday.
Hutchinson corroborated that this was known inside the White House the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, as well. She said she witnessed a discussion about the weapons between Ornato and Meadows, her boss.
Ornato informed Meadows about the weaponry, and mentioned to Hutchinson “these f’ing people are fastening spears onto the ends of flagpoles,” she said in previous testimony that the committee presented as a video clip on Tuesday.
But Hutchinson said that Meadows, on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, didn’t look up from his phone, seeming to barely register what was said.
Meadows asked Ornato, “Have you talked to the President?” she recalled. Ornato said he had made Trump aware, she added.
