- Trump grabbed the steering wheel and lunged at his driver trying to get to the Capitol on January 6.
- A former White House aide testified hearing about the incident immediately after it happened.
- Cassidy Hutchinson said Trump said, "I'm the effing president, take me to the Capitol."
President Donald Trump grabbed the steering wheel and lunged at his driver, Bobby Engel, while demanding to be taken to the Capitol on January 6, a former White House aide testified during a hearing of theHouse January 6 Committee on Tuesday.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff, recalled Trump's intense efforts to go to the Capitol on January 6 after the rally at the Ellipse despite his aides and legal counsel shooting down the idea.
Hutchinson said Tony Oranto, the Secret Service agent then in charge of Trump's detail, recounted the lunging incident to her immediately after it happened in the presidential vehicle after the Ellipse rally, when Trump was determined to go to the Capitol.
"I noticed the head of Mr. Trump's security detail sitting in a chair, looking somewhat discombobulated, a little lost," Hutchinson testified. "I looked at Tony, he said, "did you hear what happened?" I said, "No, Tony, I just got back, what happened?"
"Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in, he was under the impression that the off-the-record movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to happen," Hutchinson continued. "As the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going up to the Capitol. When Bobby relayed to him that we are not, we do have the assets to do it, it is not secure, we are going back to the West Wing, the president had a very strong and very angry response to that."
Hutchinson then testified that Trump "said something to the effect of "I'm the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now," to which Bobby responded, "We have to go back to the West Wing."
"The president reached up to the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, 'Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we are going back to the West Wing, we are not going to the Capitol.' Mr. Trump then used his free hand to launch toward Bobby Engel," Hutchinson said, adding that when Ornato "recounted the story towards me, he aimed toward his clavicle."
Engel, who was in the room with Ornato and Hutchinson, did not "correct or disagree" with Oranto's recounting, Hutchinson said.
—Axios (@axios) June 28, 2022
Trump denied Hutchinson's testimony about the lunging incident, calling it "sick" and "fraudulent."
"Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is "sick" and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself - Wouldn't even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.