WASHINGTON, D.C. – After Cassidy Hutchinson – the former senior adviser to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows – testified on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump struggled with Secret Service agents in an attempt to direct his limo towards the riots taking place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, the two agents in question reportedly may be ready to publicly refute Hutchinson’s claims.
NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Peter Alexander tweeted out the story on Tuesday, saying that “sources” indicate the agents are ready to tell their story at the ongoing House January 6 hearings.
“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,” Alexander said.
ABC News executive producer John Santucci followed with a tweet of his own, seemingly confirming NBC’s earlier report.
Hutchinson had previously testified on Tuesday that she had been told by Secret Service official Tony Ornato that, after his rally in Washington D.C. on January 6 prior to the riots at the Capitol Building, Trump told attendees that he would be joining them at the Capitol while Congress was certifying the Electoral College votes for the winner of the election, Joe Biden.
However, when he was in his presidential limo, Hutchinson claimed that Trump grew irate and combative when Secret Service refused to take him there, instead insisting that the President return to the White House. From there, it was alleged that Trump physically attempted to grab the limo’s steering wheel and had to be physically held back.
“I’m the f**king president! Take me up to the Capitol now,” Hutchinson claimed Trump said.
“Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel,” one of the agents is purported to have replied. “We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.”
In a statement, the Secret Service said that the agency would be willing to cooperate with the House’s probe.
“U.S. 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,” the agency said.
Shortly after Hutchinson’s live testimony on Tuesday, Trump expressed anger on his Truth Social platform, claiming that he didn’t know the former aide and insinuated that she was bitter over not being offered a post-presidency job.
“I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’), and when she requested to go with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office, I personally turned her request down,” Trump posted. “Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that she was very upset and angry that I didn’t want her to go, or be a member of the team. She is bad news!”
Some commentators have dismissed Hutchinson’s claims as “hearsay,” but former Trump deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews tweeted that she believed her testimony.
“Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” Matthews tweeted.
Editors note: A previous version of this story included a photo of the Presidential Cadillac known as The Beast, however, according to the New York Times, Trump was in the back of a black Suburban on the day of the Capitol riot.
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