According to multiple news outlets, an altercation between former president Donald Trump and members of his Secret Service detail on the day of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol was widely repeated and discussed by Secret Service agents and other law enforcement officials when it happened.
Trump has denied the incident ever took place. But two sources with the Secret Service confirmed to CNN that the episode described by ex-Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in bombshell testimony before the House January 6 select committee on Tuesday actually happened.
During the alleged confrontation, then-president Trump lashed out at the head of his protective detail, Robert Engel, and the driver of his armored SUV, after he was told he could not go to the US Capitol to join a mob of his supporters in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
The sources told the network they heard of an “angry confrontation” between Trump and his bodyguards stemming from their refusal to transport the president to the Capitol. Their accounts reportedly “align” with what Ms. Hutchinson told the select committee last Tuesday.
Since her testimony, multiple sources close to Trump, claim Ornato is willing to testify that no such altercation took place.
But one agent told CNN they heard Trump “had sort of lunged forward” in anger after being told he could not go where he wanted.
“It was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don’t know,” the source said. “Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat — for what reason, nobody had any idea”.
Another source told CNN said he’d been told about Trump’s verbal outburst but nothing further than that.
