In the scramble to pin culpability on Donald Trump for the supposed insurrection, the left banked on former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony. According to her, Trump purportedly made a grab for the limousine's wheel in a bid to return to the Capitol. Hutchinson further claimed that when thwarted, Trump aimed a lunge at Secret Service agent Robert Engel and was repeatedly yelling, as well as cursing.
The crux of the matter lies in Hutchinson's testimony lacking firsthand experience; it's all hearsay supposedly gleaned from White House chatter. Despite the shaky foundation of Trump's alleged erratic conduct, House Democrats leaned heavily on Hutchinson's dubious account.
But now, the limo driver, a witness to the events in question, has debunked Hutchinson's narrative. He asserts that Trump neither shouted nor made any lunges toward the wheel or Agent Engel.
“I am the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”
— Axios (@axios) June 28, 2022
Cassidy Hutchinson says Trump reached to grab the steering wheel when his security detail refused to take him to the Capitol — and lunged at his clavicle. pic.twitter.com/X6UQZvf1iT
From The Western Journal:
Maybe that’s because no one’s backing up Hutchinson’s account, including a newly released transcript of an interview with the driver of the presidential limo.
“The president was insistent on going to the Capitol,” testified the Secret Service driver, whose name was not released. However, Engel made it plain to Trump that, given no plan for his security was in place, that was impossible.
“It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol. He was not screaming at Mr. Engel,” the driver said.
“He was not screaming at me. Certainly, his voice was raised, but it did not seem to me that he was irate — certainly not, certainly didn’t seem as irritated or agitated as he had on the way to the Ellipse,” the driver added.
As for the alleged lunge for the steering wheel? Yeah, that didn’t happen, said the driver — who was in a position to know about a thing like that.
“The transcript of the driver is the first extensive eyewitness account of what happened in the armored vehicle to be made public,” the Times noted.
And that account is damning for Hutchinson’s story.
“I did not see him reach,” the Secret Service driver told investigators, according to the Times.
“He never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all,” he added. “You know, what stood out was the irritation in his voice, more than his physical presence.”
