January 6 Committee Downgrades Secret Service Story from Seizing the Wheel to ‘Heated Discussion’Joel B. Pollak 21 Jul 2022
The January 6 Committee’s eighth public hearing Thursday produced testimony that there was a “heated discussion” between then-President Donald Trump and the Secret Service during the Capitol riot — not that Trump tried to seize the wheel of the presidential vehicle.
The testimony was a significant step back from claims last month by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson — based on hearsay — that Trump had tried to wrest control of the vehicle from the Secret Service.
Hutchinson’s claimed were immediately disputed by the Secret Service agents she named, Tony Ornato and Bobby Engel. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) cited Ornato claiming in an earlier interview that Trump had been “irate.” She did not mention Hutchinson’s claims.
Rep. Luria then cited another witness, retired D.C. Metro Police Sergeant Mark Robinson, who was not in the vehicle with Trump but was in the motorcade. Sgt. Robinson — who could only offer hearsay evidence — said on video that he heard that the president was “upset” and that there had been a “heated argument or discussion about going to the Capitol.”
Though Robinson, like all witnesses brought forth by the committee after months of closed-door depositions, was cited as a witness against Trump, his testimony actually contradicted Hutchinson’s testimony and undermined the hearing’s credibility.
Though Thursday’s hearing was billed as the committee’s last scheduled public hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said that it would resume public hearings in September. It has not resolved any of the numerous evidentiary problems that have arisen.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/07/21/january-6-committee-downgrades-secret-service-story-from-seizing-the-wheel-to-heated-discussion/
