Former President Donald Trump ridiculed testimony from a former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, about his actions on January 6th.
Hutchinson claimed that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limousine, known as “The Beast,” after his January 6 speech to supporters, and steer the vehicle toward the Capitol Building.
She testified that she heard details about the story at the White House from Tony Ornato, the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations while serving the president. Ornato is currently the Assistant Director of the United States Secret Service Office of Training.
In response, Trump referred to Hutchinson’s testimony as a “fake story” on social media.
“Wouldn’t even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing,” he wrote.
Hutchinson, an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified about Trump’s actions to the special Congressional committee investigating the Capitol Hill riots on January 6.
Trump promised, during his speech on January 6, to march to Capitol Hill with his supporters to protest Congress certifying the 2020 election results.
But when the president was told by his security detail they would not take him to the Capitol, he was upset.
Hutchinson testified that Trump told his security detail, “The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f-ing president, take me up to the Capitol now,'” she said, and then lunged at the steering wheel, citing the story that Ornato told her.
She also said that Trump “used his free hand” to lunge at his security detail.
“When Mr. Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicle,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson’s testimony offered new alleged details about the president’s actions on that day as the Democrat-led committee continues to try to paint Trump as an unhinged maniac who posed a serious threat to American democracy.
She was not physically present for the events she described but based her testimony on hearsay she got from a member of the Secret Service.