Trump Apologists Obsess Over Secret Service SUV Story to Distract From Hutchinson’s Devastating Testimony
Apologists for former President Donald Trump are obsessing over potential testimony from the Secret Service who are reportedly ready to refute a damning allegation about his violent and erratic behavior on January 6th.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former senior adviser to former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified on Tuesday to the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 that Trump sought to grab the steering wheel of his presidential SUV while trying to grab or even choke a Secret Service official when he was told he was going back to the West Wing as opposed to the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson recalled a conversation she had with Tony Ornato, the head of Trump’s security detail. The incident was based on what she said she heard and therefore isn’t necessarily perjury. Perjury requires the witness to knowingly lie.
Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in the Beast, he was under the impression from Mr. Meadows that the off-the-record movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to happen, but that Bobby had more information. So once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capitol. And when Bobby had relayed to him, we’re not, we don’t have the assets to do it, it’s not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing, the President had very strong– a very angry response to that. Tony described him as being irate.
The President said something to the effect of, I’m the effing president. Take me up to the Capitol now. To which Bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the West Wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, 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 towards [Secret Service agent] Bobby Engel. And Mr.– when Mr. Ornado had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.
On Tuesday evening, reports came out that the Secret Service agents who were with Trump in the SUV were ready to testify that Hutchinson’s story is false.
As a result, Twitter users on the Right pounced and sought to gaslight and undermine the entirety of Hutchinson’s credibility and, of course, her testimony. But this completely overlooks some far more damning portions of her testimony that were provided from her firsthand knowledge.
She shared that, from her vantage point, Trump was okay with his supporters, who marched to the Capitol, having weapons; that he wasn’t bothered with the chants for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged; and that Trump threw his lunch at the wall in the final days of his presidency.
Her testimony painted Trump as not only bombastic but also someone with violent tendencies who acted like an authoritarian and demonstrated he is not fit to be near any lever of power again.
Journalists are now calling sworn testimony an “anecdote”. Just amazing stuff. https://t.co/ApKGONv2FG
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 29, 2022
If the Secret Service debunks this as they reportedly will do, then what does that say about the rest of Hutchinson’s testimony? And to Steeze’s point, I’m old enough to remember when Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” was treated as gospel instead of the gossip it largely was… https://t.co/r1mwtHVpct
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) June 29, 2022
This kinda matters…. devastating to Hutchinson’s credibility. https://t.co/EqztMOKusG
— Daniel Garza (@danielggarza) June 28, 2022
Far-right observers like Jack Posobiec and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sought to discredit Hutchinson by showing that it wouldn’t have been possible for Trump to grab the steering wheel since it was the Beast, which has a divider between passengers and the driver – except Trump was in an SUV, which Hutchinson apparently mistakenly referred to as “the Beast.”
Cassidy Hutchinson lied and the @January6thCmte held a special hearing today to broadcast her lies.
In ‘23, every single one of them need to be held accountable for what they are putting Pres Trump, his admin, & Republicans through on the people’s dime.
Enough of this. https://t.co/8h5LRSZLLm
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 28, 2022
Unfortunately, Fox News Guy Benson, who is not a Trump apologist, joined the hype in response to the news regarding the Secret Service willing to refute Hutchinson’s testimony about the alleged incident.
As a PR matter, getting perhaps the splashiest allegation promptly swatted down by the officers involved is a pretty significant blunder. If the committee is interested in truth, they’ll allow public, refuting testimony — especially if they want people to believe other things. https://t.co/6gMyWLlEAf
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 29, 2022
At the end of the day, while the committee should hear from the Secret Service agents that were in the vehicle with Trump, even if that part of Hutchinson’s testimony gets refuted, it wouldn’t automatically make the rest of what she testified, which included bombshell after bombshell, to be false. Ditto with who wrote a note as to what Trump should say as the riot at the Capitol was ongoing. Hutchinson had a front seat to what alarmingly transpired and she showed that she is credible. What if the Secret Service agents do not tell the truth? At best, it is a case of hearsay and, at worst, a case of perjury by either Hutchinson or the Secret Service agents.
Imagine if the actors in the Trump White House were Democrats. How would the Right react to the Secret Service news? They rightly would not have gaslit whereas the Left would have. This speculation has demonstrated that nuance and accountability are warranted on both sides of the aisle and ideological spectrum especially as it pertains to getting to the bottom of what happened ahead of and on that tragic and shameful January day.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
