Former President Donald Trump did not attempt to grab the steering wheel of a presidential limousine on Jan. 6, as was suggested by a star witness of the Jan. 6 Committee, according to witnesses interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified to the Jan. 6 Committee in 2022 that she heard from presidential security official Tony Ornato that Trump had lunged for the wheel of “the Beast” after being informed that he was going back to the White House rather than to the Capitol on that day. However, witnesses who were inside the vehicle and interviewed for a DHS OIG report examining the Secret Service’s response to Jan. 6 said that Trump made no such move.

“We also interviewed [redacted] Secret Service agents in the limousine with the President. The limousine driver said that the President was angry when his request to go to the Capitol was denied, whereas the President’s detail lead, who was seated in front of the President, said he did not recall if the President was angry,” reads a footnote in the report. “We asked [redacted] agents whether the President reached for the steering wheel or lunged toward the detail lead when his request to go to the Capitol was denied, and [redacted] witnesses said those actions did not occur.”

The DHS OIG report states that office investigators did not interview Hutchinson for the report because her testimonyregarding what happened inside “the Beast” was already part of the public record. Additionally, the report notes that the Ornato wrote to the OIG, saying that “I do not recall being made aware of any details about the President’s return trip to the White House and, as such, I do not recall speaking with anyone about it.”

The scene described by the witnesses inside the vehicle stands in contrast to what Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 Commission when she testified in June 2022, which included an anecdote about the head of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail having to restrain the president as he made a move for the steering wheel of “the Beast.”

Ornato “described [Trump] as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I am the f-ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,’” Hutchinson testified.

Major news outlets — including Reuters, CBS News and NBC News — ran stories amplifying Hutchinson’s claims about what happened in “the Beast” on Jan. 6 when she testified to Congress about it in June 2022.

Nick Pope
August 3, 20242:27 PM ET

Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America

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