Ever since Cassidy Hutchinson testified before that January 6 committee that Donald Trump allegedly tried to grab the steering wheel from his driver and choke a Secret Service agent during the Capitol assault, the former president and his MAGA throng have been working overtime to discredit the damaging tale. So they’re probably not going to be thrilled that a Washington D.C. cop has reportedly corroborated the heated moment in the presidential SUV.
According to CNN, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department who was in Trump’s motorcade has already met with the January 6 committee and recounted what he saw that day. While details were not given, CNN reports that the officer provided details that corroborates Hutchinson’s testimony:
Hutchinson said that she heard a secondhand account told to her by then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato that Trump was so enraged at his Secret Service detail for blocking him from going to the Capitol on the day of the insurrection that “he reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel” and “then used his free hand to lunge towards” his Secret Service lead agent Robert Engel. Hutchinson testified that Ornato told her the story in front of Engel and he did not dispute the account.
While the Secret Service has signaled that Engel will “deny parts of the story,” the January 6 committee has reportedly been “engaging with the driver” in an effort to compel further testimony about the heated exchange.
News of the Metro police officer coming forward to the committee arrives just days after a mic drop moment where Liz Cheney revealed that Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice for alleged witness tampering. Needless to say, these hearings are not going well for the former president, who apparently can’t stop watching them. The guy knows good TV.
(Via CNN)