Secret Service Agent Tony Ornato Retires After Explosive Testimony From January 6 Witness
Tony Ornato, the Secret Service’s assistant director who became a top aide to former President Donald Trump, announced his retirement — amid the recent scrutiny over his actions around January 6.
On Monday, the Secret Service confirmed Ornato’s departure after 25 years of service. CNN obtained a statement from Ornato, saying he retired in the interest of pursuing “a career in the private sector.”
“I retired from the U.S. Secret Service after more than 25 years of faithful service to my country, including serving the past five presidents,” the statement reads. “I long-planned to retire and have been planning this transition for more than a year.”
The development comes only a few months after Ornato was thrust into the focus of the January 6 Committee, due to the bombshell testimony from former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson. The media has also placed a strong focus on Ornato due to the irregularity of a Secret Service employee functioning as a political operative of Trump’s after the ex-president made him his deputy chief of staff.
When Hutchinson testified before the January 6 Committee, she ignited a media firestorm by saying that Ornato told her that Trump repeatedly demanded to go to the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and join his supporters who wound up violently storming the building. According to Hutchinson’s recollection. Ornato described the ex-president angrily lashing out and trying to grab the steering wheel of the car to go join the mob at the Capitol after Robert Engel — the head of Trump’s security detail — told the president he couldn’t go.
Amid the ongoing journalistic efforts to corroborate Hutchinson’s testimony, Ornato and Engel were both reported as willing to dispute the account Hutchinson offered under oath. While Ornato has yet to appear before the committee in order to do so, Trump has gone ahead with mocking Hutchinson’s testimony and claiming the allegations against him have been completely debunked.
Watch above, via CNN.
