Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her January 6 Select Committee were just hit with a major bombshell.
The testimony of a key witness that painted a picture of a maniacal Trump has been debunked.
Talking Points…
- Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony
- Driver debunks Hutchinson
- Analysis
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, arguably gave some of the most damaging testimony against Trump regarding January 6 in terms of his mindset. The committee used that established mindset to hammer Trump during the hearing. As it turns out, Hutchinson may have been lying.
In part of her testimony, she stated she had a conversation with Tony Ornato, who was serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the time. She also included the head of Trump's security detail, Bobby Engel. Hutchinson recalled the interaction:
"I looked at Tony, and he had said, 'Did you f-ing hear what happened in the Beast?' I said, 'No Tony, I just got back, what happened?' Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in the Beast, he was under the impression 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, you don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West Wing,' the president had a very strong, very angry response to that."
She then claimed that Trump told his security team that he wanted to go the Capitol, then Hutchinson continued:
"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 and 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.'"
Hutchinson then claimed that Trump lunged at Engel, saying that when Ornato told her the story, he motioned toward his collarbone area.
The driver of the car, who was not named, gave an entirely different version of the story. He conceded that Trump was irritated and wanted to go to the Capitol. When Trump was told they were returning to the White House, the driver also stated that Engel and Trump had an animated discussion about why it was unsafe for Trump to go to the Capitol.
When asked about Trump going for the wheel or lunging toward Engel, the driver testified:
"[President Trump] never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn't see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all."
The committee, headed by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), issued a scathing rebuke of how the J6 Committee handled this issue. The committee claimed it buried the driver's testimony and only mentioned the driver in passing in its final report. The committee was also blasted for not thoroughly vetting Hutchinson's testimony before putting her on live TV to testify before the nation.
The report by the oversight committee goes on to say that Secret Service agents in Trump's detail also contradicted Hutchinson's testimony. Loudermilk's conclusion stated that this is "just the beginning" of the evidence to show how tainted the J6 investigation was under Democrats. Trump, of course, blasted Dems for the report, telling Just the News, "These were made-up, fabricated stories."
This story is already getting traction, even among mainstream media outlets, and the timing for Trump is perfect. Biden has been dominating the news cycle after his State of the Union speech, and as usual, Trump has figured out a way to turn the news cycle back to him, and he is doing it in a way that will hurt the public perception of Democrats. More importantly for Trump, this gives him something to slam Democrats and continue to paint the picture that this was a coordinated plot to keep him out of office, and his base is going to feast on this.
