The Secret Service is reportedly denying a dramatic tale told by a former White House aide that former President Trump tried to choke his Secret Service driver in a fit of rage on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Tuesday Cassidy Hutchinson also told the House special committee that an unhinged Mr. Trump tried to grab the presidential limousine’s steering wheel during the assault as he was driven from the “Stop the Steal” rally.
Citing “a source close to the Secret Service,” NBC News White House reporter Peter Alexander said Tuesday evening that this didn’t happen.
“Both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel,” Mr. Alexander posted on Twitter.
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) June 28, 2022
Ms. Hutchinson, who served as top aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, gave several other accounts of Mr. Trump’s anger.
She also said he threw his lunch against a wall and demanded that armed supporters be allowed to attend his final rally.
But those fits of rage she saw herself, while the Secret Service limousine assault, she acknowledged, was based on hearsay.
That incident also has not been mentioned in numerous tell-all books about Mr. Trump’s time in the White House.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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