Testimony Of January 6 Star Witness Refuted By New Witness: Report
More testimony against former President Donald Trump has been called into question.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a prominent witness for the January 6 Committee and a former aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified under oath that she heard Tony Ornato, the head of presidential security, say that the former president lunged for the steering wheel of his limo to head back to the Capitol during the riot.
However, a new witness interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General has disputed this account, The Daily Caller reported.
“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,” the report stated. “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.”
According to The Daily Caller:
The DHS OIG report indicates that investigators did not interview Hutchinson because her testimony about what happened inside “the Beast” was already public. Additionally, the report notes that Ornato wrote to the OIG, saying, “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 account provided by the witnesses inside the vehicle contradicts what Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 Commission in June 2022, which included a story about the head of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail having to restrain the president as he allegedly 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.
This is not the first time Hutchinson, who has become a favorite of the liberal media, has had her testimony challenged.
In December 2023, a lawsuit filed by a former attorney for Hutchinson appeared to undermine claims she publicly made during her testimony before the Democrat-controlled committee.
According to Just the News, the suit includes text messages indicating “that she initially did not want to comply with the January 6 committee’s investigation and appeared to prepare to leak information about the committee’s proceedings to the media independently of her lawyer.”
These texts are from just before her initial closed-door interview with the special committee investigating the January 6 riot. They precede her revision of the account of events after parting ways with her first lawyer, Stefan Passantino. Hutchinson claimed that Passantino pressured her to remain “loyal” to former President Donald Trump.
The texts were added as evidence to Passantino’s lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann, currently an MSNBC legal analyst, former prosecutor, and deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, alleging that he “publicly impugned [Passantino’s reputation], claiming that Mr. Passantino coached his client, Cassidy Hutchinson, to lie in congressional testimony.”
“This is an insidious lie,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Passantino never coached Ms. Hutchinson to lie, nor did he attempt to shape her testimony in any way.”
Texts purportedly from Hutchinson also suggest that the former aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, initially acknowledged her reluctance to cooperate with the committee, despite Passantino’s encouragement for her to do so, Just the News reported.
“Like how on earth are they doing this to you,” one unidentified person asked the former Trump White House aide.
“I don’t know. But I don’t want to comply. Stefan wants me to comply,” Hutchinson replied.