WASHINGTON – Shortly after his speech at Ellipse ended on January 6, 2021, President Donald J. Trump stepped into the back of a black suburb bearing the presidential seal.
What followed turned into an intense debate following explosive testimony Tuesday from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House staffer who said Mr Trump was furious when his bodyguard refused to take him to the Capitol.
Speaking to a House House committee investigating the attack, Ms. Hutchinson said she had been told by Anthony M. Ornato, deputy chief of staff of the White House, that Mr. Trump had tried to get behind the wheel of his car. when he was told he could not go to the Capitol to join his supporters. Ms. Hutchinson also said Mr. Ornato had told her that the president had “thrown himself” against his top secret service agent, Robert Engel.
Ms Hutchinson made it clear in her public testimony that she was not directly aware of the incident, but that Mr Ornato had told her about it with Mr Engel present in the room. It remains unclear what the commission did to confirm it.
Secret Service officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, challenged her account.
But officials said Mr Engel, Mr Ornato and the Suburban driver were ready to confirm to the commission another horrific finding from Mrs Hutchinson’s testimony: that Mr Trump had asked his agents to bring him to Capitol so that his supporters could join, even after emphasizing the dangerous scene taking place there.
The agents’ desire to provide potentially critical details about the person they defended is a rare twist for an agency that has historically prioritized the secrecy of presidents, even in the face of investigations.
On Wednesday, Jody Hunt, Ms. Hutchinson’s lawyer, said his client “stands by all the testimony he gave yesterday, under oath,” and he challenged others who knew about Mr. Trump’s actions during the trip to appear before the commission.
“Those who know about the episode must also testify under oath,” he said.
In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Commissioner Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat from Florida, said Mr Ornato “did not have as clear memories of that period as I would say Mrs Hutchinson had”.
Asked if the group had evidence to support Ms. Hutchinson’s allegations, Representative Jamie Ruskin, a Maryland Democrat and committee member, said Tuesday that Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony was in itself “evidence” of which he is familiar with. “I don’t know anything that contradicts the story she just gave,” he said.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the commission had not contacted the agency about Hutchinson’s account of Mr Trump’s trip from the Ellipse to the White House before her testimony.
Mr. Ornato, who was the head of Mr. Trump’s secret services department before he was appointed deputy chief of staff, and Mr. Engel testified before the commission before Ms. Hutchinson appeared, but they are ready to do it again, a secret service official said.
Mr Trump’s allies are using the controversy over what happened in the presidential car to question the credibility of Ms Hutchinson’s testimony as a whole, who paints a portrait of a president who ignores threats of violence from his own supporters. to those who wanted to “hang” the vice president and wanted to join the mob that continued to attack the Capitol.
The controversy also underscores Mr. Trump’s connection to his secret service detail, which was not similar to that of most previous presidents. According to people who have spent some time in the White House during multiple administrations, Mr. Trump has worked to build loyalty among them, agents have been seen as more outspokenly supportive and admiring of Mr. Trump than have been with any other modern president.
Key revelations from the January 6 hearings
While other presidents preferred the head of their details and sometimes ensured that they were promoted, sometimes even appointed them director of the agency, Mr. Trump sought to make his lead agent part of his personal political team. By appointing Mr. Ornato deputy chief of staff to the White House, Mr. Trump has raised eyebrows among traditionalists who consider this inappropriate.
For generations, agents have typically sought to maintain careful neutrality with Republican and Democratic presidents who are determined to be seen as defenders of the service, regardless of who held office. Agents are known to like certain presidents more than others – George W. Bush has often been described as a favorite, while many reportedly disliked Bill Clinton and especially Hillary Clinton – but they always insisted they were not part of the political team.
The murky bond between presidents and their advocates was pierced during the Clinton years, when Ken Starr, an independent lawyer, called on agents and uniformed officers to testify about the president’s relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky, a former White House intern. The secret services fought vigorously with summonses all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that disclosing what agents saw and heard while defending the president would break the bond of trust and encourage future CEOs to keep their guardians at arm’s length. increasing the potential risk. But the judges rejected the argument, finding that there was no law authorizing agents to oppose legal orders to testify.
This precedent paved the way for the January 6 commission to force Mr. Trump’s agents to testify and set a precedent in case they eventually return to the commission to discuss what happened to the vehicle on the day of the attack. Capitol. This puts the service in an extremely awkward position, whether agents are effectively advocating for the political protection of a president they have physically protected or providing information that could harm him.
Peter Baker contributed to the report.
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