Two Secret Service agents, according to multiple news outlets, are willing to testify under oath that “bombshell” testimony before the January 6 committee involving former President Donald Trump never happened.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared before the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot Tuesday and delivered some shocking testimony – including allegations that Trump was so desperate to go to the Capitol that he lunged for the steering wheel of the vehicle known as ‘The Beast.’
Hutchinson, who worked for Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, claimed that the former President, upon being told by the head of his Secret Service detail, Bobby Engel, that they were going to the White House rather than the Capitol, became irate.
“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f’ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,” she claimed.
Hutchinson claimed that she was told this tale by White House aide Tony Ornato.
“The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel,” she continued. “Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.’”
“Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel,” added Hutchinson.
After breathlessly reporting Hutchinson’s second-hand account as real, multiple media outlets would begin reporting that the Secret Service agents who were actually there deny the account and are willing to testify.
Cassidy Hutchinson says President Trump lunged for his limo’s steering wheel after he was told he wasn’t being taken to the Capitol. “The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president. Take me up to the Capitol now.’” pic.twitter.com/vNwPIgxQdZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 28, 2022
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RELATED: Politico Reporter: Two Democrat Lawmakers Privately Admit ‘Nobody Gives A Bleep About January 6’
Agents Willing to Testify That Trump Limo Story Didn’t Happen
The allegation that Trump tried to physically overpower his Secret Service limo driver sounds absurd on its face. First off, Hutchinson was delivering hearsay – relaying a story from Engel as delivered by Ornato.
And to believe the incident took place as described, you’d have to believe Trump was either sitting in the passenger seat of ‘The Beast’ or not know what the vehicle looks like.
But the media, desperate to believe anything and everything coming out of the January 6 committee, ran with it and ran with it hard. Stories and clips about the lunge at the limo driver were popping up everywhere on social media yesterday afternoon.
And the pundits were announcing to the world that this was the worst political scandal in the history of American presidential politics. Take Dan Rather of fake news fame, for example.
The biggest scandal in American political history. And that’s saying a lot. Jaw dropping. Sickening. Infuriating.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) June 28, 2022
The problem being, that Hutchinson’s story went up in flames spectacularly within hours.
Several media outlets not exactly friendly to Trump’s cause began reporting that the agents involved in the alleged incident were willing to testify that it didn’t happen.
Engel, the lead agent, along with the presidential limo driver, according to NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander, are willing to “testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.”
???? 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
Ornato, for his part, denied ever telling Hutchinson the story of Trump and the limo in the first place. And, according to CNN reporter Gabby Orr, is also “prepared to testify that neither incident occurred.”
Tony Ornato is denying that he told Cassidy Hutchinson Trump grabbed the steering wheel in presidential vehicle on 1/6 or lunged at a fellow agent, a USSS official tells @joshscampbell. CNN confirms that Ornato & Enger are prepared to testify that neither incident occurred.
— Gabby Orr (@GabbyOrr_) June 29, 2022
RELATED: One Of The January 6 Committee’s Conspiracy Theories About Riot Debunked By Capitol Police
More Testimony Questioned
Anti-Trump media and pundits almost immediately shifted the goalposts by suggesting there were other damaging portions of Hutchinson’s testimony.
But the biggest damage was to the credibility of the January 6 committee as another portion of her statements are also now in dispute.
Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) displayed a handwritten note during the hearing which Hutchinson testified she wrote after Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation.
But ABC News is reporting that former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann had already told the committee that the handwriting was his, not Hutchinson’s.
Anyone that has ever worked with Eric Herschmann knows that the handwriting on that note is his. Cassidy lied through her teeth and Liz Cheney knew she was lying.
Trump White House attorney disputes Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony about handwritten notehttps://t.co/Jct1dDsN2W
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) June 29, 2022
“The handwritten note that Cassidy Hutchinson testified was written by her was in fact written by Eric Herschmann on January 6, 2021,” a spokesperson for Herschmann told ABC.
And yet, the media kept trying to force-feed the ‘bombshell’ testimony to anybody that was gullible enough to listen.
Needless to say, left-wing figures went hog wild with the questionable testimony:
Now Trump is going after Cassidy Hutchinson’s handwriting as he melts down on Truth Social.
But, yeah, totally inconceivable that he’d throw his ketchup-drenched food at the wall in anger after trying to wrestle a steering wheel away from a Secret Service agent. pic.twitter.com/JFnf8jcEan
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 28, 2022
Hutchinson’s legal representation challenged those disputing her account to testify before the committee, something they have expressed a willingness to do.
Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told. Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath. https://t.co/F69nuMH5oy
— Jody Hunt (@realJodyHunt) June 28, 2022
Should that happen, things would get mighty interesting.
The testimony put forth by their star witness in a hastily called public hearing that they thought was a bombshell has been, on at least two fronts, refuted by others and, in the one case, by the very witnesses who Hutchinson claims told her about them.
It’s impossible to overstate the damage that Hutchinson’s testimony did to the legitimacy of the @January6thCmte.
The media was trying desperately to take them seriously.
And in the matter of a few hours, their ‘bombshell’ witness caused everything to blow up in their face. https://t.co/gUu8Bgtywm
— Rusty ????️ (@rustyweiss74) June 29, 2022
Aside from the Trump limo story, the January 6 committee has struggled with legitimacy due to a series of provable falsehoods in their narrative.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) was caught ‘doctoring‘ a text message he submitted as evidence at a hearing back in December.
The committee was forced to admit it had been altered.
Breaking: Following @FDRLST reporting that Adam Schiff and his staff doctored a text message between Jim Jordan and former WH chief of staff Mark Meadows, the House Jan. 6 committee has just admitted that it did, in fact, doctor the text message.https://t.co/78aRNyOib7
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 15, 2021
One of the committee’s pet conspiracy theories – that a GOP lawmaker conducted a ‘reconnaissance tour’ prior to the January 6 riot at the Capitol – went up in smoke when the Capitol police issued a letter saying nothing of the sort happened.
We “do not consider any of the activities we observed to be suspicious,” wrote Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
????BREAKING????: The truth will always prevail. As I’ve said since the Jan. 6 Committee made their baseless accusation about me to the media, I never gave a tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021… pic.twitter.com/qBoLcmxnYQ
— Rep. Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) June 14, 2022
Another member of the House select committee, Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), has also been caught multiple times spreading misinformation in the form of fake quotes and a poorly photoshopped tweet hoping nobody would notice.
Anti-Trump congressman @AdamKinzinger again fell for another hoax. He believed the fake Tucker Carlson quote in addition to previously falling for the Sam Hyde “ghost of Kyiv” pilot meme. Kinzinger was lampooned on Carlson’s show for his gullibility. https://t.co/8kPFwIy3Cv pic.twitter.com/4z7yL6KiH4
— Andy Ngô ????️???? (@MrAndyNgo) April 6, 2022
From what I’m seeing, the committee has no credibility. Their witnesses have no credibility. And their narrative and conclusions are little more than manipulated fiction to draw attention to themselves and aid Democrats in the midterm elections.
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