White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified on Tuesday that Donald Trump attempted to grab the wheel of the presidential limo, aka The Beast, on January 6 in an attempt to go to the Capitol, after he was told by members of his detail that they were instead returning to the White House.
Hutchinson, an aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, has testified as part of the House committee’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6. She said White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato and Secret Service agent Bobby Engel informed her what happened in The Beast as the former President was driven to the White House.
“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,” said Hutchinson, per NBC News. When Trump was told that they could not go to the Capitol because it wasn’t secure, Hutchinson added, “The president had a very strong, 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.’”
He then proceeded to reach toward the steering wheel, and was told to take his hands off by Engel. “Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornato recounted this story to me, he motioned toward his clavicles,” Hutchinson added.
During her testimony, Hutchinson also said that Trump threw his lunch at the wall in anger after Attorney General William Barr publicly said the Department of Justice had found zero evidence of election fraud, despite Trump’s insistence there had been. “I first noticed there was ketchup dripping down the wall and there was a shattered porcelain plate on the floor,” she explained. “I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off the wall to help the valet out and he said something to the effect off, ‘He’s really ticked off about this, I would stay clear of him for right now.’”
Hutchinson said that at one point she overheard Trump say that he was aware some of the people who attended the rally that day had weapons, but he didn’t care because they weren’t there to hurt him. Per Hutchinson, Trump wanted the weapon detectors removed altogether.
“When we were in the offstage announce tent, I was part of a conversation — I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, ‘I don’t effing care that they have weapon,” she testified. “They’re not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away,’” she recounted to committee investigators.
