Secret Service agents “are prepared to testify before Congress” to refute Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony.
QUICK FACTS:
- Cassidy Hutchinson, the aide to former Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows, testified to the January 6 Committee that President Trump had attempted to siege the presidential vehicle in an effort to reach the Capitol Building.
- Hutchinson argued Secret Service agent Robert Engel then attempted to block President Trump from commandeering the vehicle.
- Hutchinson asserted that Tony Ornato, the then-White House deputy chief of staff, was the one who told her about the incident.
- Some postulate that the layout of the presidential limousine itself makes the situation unlikely, as the president is seated away from the driver in the back of the vehicle.
- Agent Engel and the driver are set to testify “under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel,” in contradiction to Hutchinson’s assertion.
- An unnamed Secret Service official reportedly said that Tony Ornato denies telling Hutchinson the story, further muddling the testimony.
REACTIONS TO HUTCHINSON’S CLAIMS:
- Republican White House Staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin applauded Hutchinson for her “courage and integrity” in the testimony in spite of the farfetched statements.
- Never-Trumper and Conservative attorney George Conway tweeted, “This is the most astonishing testimony I have ever seen or heard or read.”
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Hutchinson’s statements in an interview with Stephen Colbert, calling them “stunning” despite contradictory evidence.
- But President Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to call Hutchinson’s story “‘sick’ and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself.” “Wouldn’t even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing,” Trump argued.
BACKGROUND:
- The Jan 6 Committee hearings have been dubbed “show trials” by Fox News due to the lack of evidence and falsified claims that make the committee appear more like entertainment than a Congressional investigation.
- Former Department of Justice lawyer Ken Klukowski exposed the lies directed toward him from the Jan 6 Committee, that he was part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. Klukowski stated that the hearings are not “about truth, but about making it impossible for conservatives to successfully enter and leave government.”
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) declared that the Jan 6 Committee is being used as a “campaign tool,” and dubbed the trials mere “partisan witch hunts.”
