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Testimony Of January 6 Star Witness Refuted By New Witness: Report

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


More testimony against former President Donald Trump has been refuted.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a star witness for the January 6 Committee and a former aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, claimed under oath that she heard Tony Ornato, who was the head of presidential security, say the former president lunged for the steering wheel of his limo to head back to the Capitol during the riot.

But now a new witness who was interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General has said that that never happened, The Daily Caller reported.

“We also interviewed [redacted] Secret Service agents in the limousine with the President. The limousine driver said that the President was angry when his request to go to the Capitol was denied, whereas the President’s detail lead, who was seated in front of the President, said he did not recall if the President was angry,” the report said. “We asked [redacted] agents whether the President reached for the steering wheel or lunged toward the detail lead when his request to go to the Capitol was denied, and [redacted] witnesses said those actions did not occur.”

The Caller reported:

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The DHS OIG report states that office investigators did not interview Hutchinson for the report because her testimony regarding what happened inside “the Beast” was already part of the public record. Additionally, the report notes that the Ornato wrote to the OIG, saying that “I do not recall being made aware of any details about the President’s return trip to the White House and, as such, I do not recall speaking with anyone about it.”

The scene described by the witnesses inside the vehicle stands in contrast to what Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 Commission when she testified in June 2022, which included an anecdote about the head of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail having to restrain the president as he made a move for the steering wheel of “the Beast.”

Ornato “described [Trump] as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I am the f-ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,’” Hutchinson testified.

It is not the first time Hutchinson, who has become a darling of the liberal media, had her testimony refuted.

In December 2023, a lawsuit filed by a former attorney for Hutchinson appeared to undermine claims she publicly made during her testimony before the Democrat-controlled committee.

According to Just the News, the suit also cites text messages indicating “that she initially did not want to comply with the January 6 committee’s investigation and appeared to prepare to leak information about the committee’s proceedings to the media independently of her lawyer.”

These texts originate from just before her initial closed-door interview with the special committee investigating the January 6 riot. They precede her revision of the account of events that occurred after parting ways with her first lawyer, Stefan Passantino. She claimed that Passantino had exerted pressure on her to remain “loyal” to former President Donald Trump.

The texts were added as evidence to Passantino’s lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann, currently an MSNBC legal analyst, former prosecutor, and deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, alleging that he “publicly impugned [Passantino’s reputation], claiming that Mr. Passantino coached his client, Cassidy Hutchinson, to lie in congressional testimony.”

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“This is an insidious lie,” the lawsuit claims. “Mr. Passantino never coached Ms. Hutchinson to lie, nor did he attempt to shape her testimony in any way.”

Texts purportedly from Hutchinson also appear to indicate that the former aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, initially acknowledged her reluctance to cooperate with the committee, despite Passantino’s encouragement for her to do so, Just the News reported.

“Like how on earth are they doing this to you,” one unidentified person asked the former Trump White House aide.

“I don’t know. But I don’t want to comply. Stefan wants me to comply,” Hutchinson replied.