The House subcommittee investigating the January 6 committee has released a report that they say pokes holes in Cassidy Hutchinson’s dramatic testimony about Donald Trump’s actions that day.
Their report claims that former White House aide Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump jumped to the wheel of the Beast when a driver wouldn’t take him to the Capitol was not corroborated by four other former White House staffers.
The report consists of transcribed interviews conducted by the January 6 Commission, led by Democrats during the last Congress. House Republicans have now obtained the interviews that were previously released only in redacted form. They allege Democrats used redactions to distort testimony.
The House subcommittee investigating the January 6 committee has released a report that they say pokes holes in Cassidy Hutchinson’s dramatic testimony about Donald Trump’s actions that day
Hutchinson testified under oath that Trump had done just that and got 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 Jan. 6, 2021 a meeting at the Ellipse.
She said Anthony Ornato, White House deputy chief of operations, called her into his office and then shared a story that Agent Bobby Engel, Trump’s Secret Service chief, had shared with him moments earlier.
Hutchinson testified that Ornato allowed her into his office and then shared a story about the “President” that Agent Robert (“Bobby”) Engel, President Trump’s Secret Service chief, allegedly told him moments earlier. 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 that the Select Committee rushed to tell Hutchinson during the Select Committee’s much-publicized ’emergency hearing’,” the report said.
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
The report said a former White House official “rejected the premise” that Trump ever planned to go to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse. Another former White House aide testified that he was in Ornato’s office after Trump returned to the White House.
Ornato then went into detail about Trump’s mood, which he characterized as “enraged,” 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 chant “Hang Mike Pence” on TV.
A former White House aide, referred to as “Employee One,” who was with Trump that day, said he did not hear the president’s comment about the chants at all.
The committee, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., also questioned why the Jan. 6 committee did not interview the Secret Service agent who was driving the vehicle when Trump allegedly grabbed the steering wheel until his lawyer brought up the idea.
The driver then testified to the Jan. 6 committee “that he specifically refuted the version of events as told by Hutchinson,” the report said.
The report also accused the Jan. 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 with former Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi about calling in the Guard.
The staffer said they “didn’t hear about the National Guard being mentioned until January 6th, when things happened.” But the Jan. 6 Commission had prefaced the question by admitting that Trump “had floated the idea that 10,000 National Guardsmen would support law enforcement on Jan. 6,” the report said.
A transcript Loudermilk released Friday of an interview with Ornato confirms the idea 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 some other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops should be deployed on January 6 ?’ a commission employee asked Ornato.
“I remember he – he was on the phone with (Bowser), and we – I had walked in somewhere, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything she needed . Because I think it was the concern of the clash between anti- and pro-groups, that’s what I remember. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just at the mall or at the event; and wanted to know if she needed any more guards,” Ornato replied.
He then said Trump wanted to make sure the 10,000 number was “enough.”
“And I remember the number 10,000, you know, the president wants to make sure you have enough. You know, he’s willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that song. Now that you mentioned it, it reminded me. And that she was completely ready for it. She had, I think it was about 350 for intersection control and things like that that were not within the law enforcement capacity at that time. And that’s the only thing I can remember with that number of 10,000 National Guard soldiers,” he continued.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser asked for only 300, requesting that they not be armed and work with local police.
Ornato said the White House then asked the Defense Department to have a “rapid response force” on hand in case Bowser’s request was not enough.
“The one thing I remember about DOD and the National Guard was, even though the mayor didn’t want a National Guard in D.C. anymore, there was a request made to have some kind of, for lack of a better term, a rapid response force . Joint Base Andrews was that it was a military installation,” Ornato said in his interview, according to the transcript.
‘I remember Chief Meadows talking to Defense about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know, ‘Hey, there was going to be a National Guard that would be at Joint Base Andrews in case they needed any more, we’re going to – the mayor might need some more. We are going to make sure they are there.”
The new report also questions why the January 6 committee invested “almost no resources” in 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 to interview more than 800 individuals and review more than 300 tips, the suspect remains at large more than three years after the pipe bombs were planted free feet,” the report said.
“The Subcommittee is concerned about the integrity of the security investigation conducted by the United States Secret Service on the morning of January 6. As a result of the USSS’s inability to properly search the DNC, newly elected Vice President Kamala Harris came within feet of a viable pipe bomb.”