Withheld by J6 committee: Driver said Trump never tried to commandeer ‘The Beast’

by WorldTribune Staff, March 12, 2024

New evidence released by a House committee destroys two sensational claims made by Democrats about President Donald Trump during the Jan. 6 investigation.

A Secret Service agent who was driving the presidential vehicle known as “The Beast” said that Trump never tried to commandeer the vehicle to go to the Capitol. It is a direct contradiction of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the Select Committee.

Donald Trump said physical obstacles would have prevented him from even attempting to take the wheel of ‘The Beast.’

The evidence also showed that Trump indeed offered to send National Guard troops for extra protection ahead of J6.

The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee, chaired by Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, on March 11 released transcripts and other evidence in an interim report that concluded the House Select Committee on Jan, 6 withheld evidence that contradicted its final conclusions.

The Secret Service driver who took Trump to his Jan. 6, 2021 speech on the Ellipse and back to the White House, who wasn’t identified by name in the report, contradicted Hutchinson’s story about Trump lunging to grab the wheel of the presidential SUV and take it to the Capitol.

“The driver testified that he specifically refuted the version of events as recounted by Hutchinson,” the report states. “The driver of the SUV testified that he ‘did not see him reach [redacted]. [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.’ ”

Trump told Just the News’s John Solomon podcast: “Well, the story was false and so ridiculous that I would grab these young, strong guys. I don’t even know if you’d be able to do it, because they have a lot of things in between the driver and the back, you know, like steel, then various other things. And I would imagine it would be very hard to do. But the whole concept of me doing it, these were made up fabricated stories. And they got tremendous play.”

Congressional officials confirmed to Just the News on Monday that ex-Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 Select Committee run by Democrats, personally participated in the interview of the Secret Service driver and was aware of his statements contradicting Hutchinson.

Trump acknowledged he asked the Secret Service if he could go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 after his speech on the Ellipse and was told the agents had no security to do it safely.

“I said, I think, let’s go down to the Capitol. And the Secret Service was very nice and said, ‘Sir, really better for you to go back to the White House. It really is, you know, we’re not prepared to go down there.’ And I understood that and it was no big argument,” Trump said.

Loudermilk’s report also shows that Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Tony Ornato said that Trump had authorized days before Jan. 6 sending as many as 10,000 National Guard troops to help Washington, D.C., and Capitol police.

“When you have a president that offers to put in the military or I would do whatever they would have wanted, it would have been fine,” Trump said. “Whether it be the National Guard or the military, whatever they wanted, would have been fine. And you don’t take him up on the offer. And then you blame the president later on because they had a problem.”

Trump added: “If they would have taken just a small portion of the 10,000 people. I specifically said 10,000. I also used the words I believe, ‘or more’ if you need them. But 10,000 is a lot. But if they would have had 500, they would have had no problem. … The whole thing would have never happen. January 6 would never have … you would not know the term. But they didn’t do that. They said no, we don’t want them.”


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