After a Jan. 6 Committee witness claimed that former President Donald Trump physically assaulted a Secret Service agent, a source within the agency responded with a denial.
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, recounted a story of Trump lunging at his security on Jan. 6 in a Tuesday committee hearing.
Hutchinson said she had heard about Trump lunging for the steering wheel of the presidential limousine.
She also claimed witnesses saw Trump reaching for the clavicle of his head of security, Bobby Engel.
“I am the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”
Cassidy Hutchinson says Trump reached to grab the steering wheel when his security detail refused to take him to the Capitol — and lunged at his clavicle. pic.twitter.com/X6UQZvf1iT
— Axios (@axios) June 28, 2022
Hutchinson’s explosive claim of the then-President physically assaulting someone drew attention to the Jan. 6 committee hearing, with Trump’s critics believing it to be true.
The incident supposedly occurred after Trump spoke to a gathering of his supporters at the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6.
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Trump supposedly lashed out at his security when they declined to take the president to the Capitol.
Trump denied Hutchinson’s claims in a Truth Social post following her testimony.
President Trump’s response to Cassidy Hutchinson via Truth Social: pic.twitter.com/21qrg8TcBo
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) June 28, 2022
According to NBC reporter Peter Alexander, the men involved in the story are prepared to testify against its veracity.
? A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) June 28, 2022
Citing a Secret Service source, he says Engel and the limousine’s driver are willing to deny it under oath.
Some questioned how it would be possible for the president to lunge from the rear compartment of the “Beast” limousine to the driver’s seat.
And if it was the Beast. pic.twitter.com/4YJk8XuftS
— Scott Ackley (@ackwoodcarver) June 28, 2022
Others have questioned if Trump even rode in the limousine from his Ellipse speech to the White House.
The Secret Service released a statement following the testimony, indicating a willingness to respond on the record to Hutchinson’s explosive claims.
“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.”
