Jan. 6 committee wants to talk to Secret Service agents who denied account of Trump’s temper tantrum

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Ornato, a former assistant director of the Secret Service who took a leave to work as Trump’s deputy chief of staff, met with the committee in January and March, but has not done so since Hutchinson’s testimony became public. Neither has Engel.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the two Republicans on the committee, alluded to that while discussing whether he believed that Trump would testify, as he’s currently saying he wants to do.

“I have long learned in this that people will say something publicly that … you know, look at the former Secret Service members who claimed that Cassidy Hutchinson was lying when she obviously was not about overhearing that conversation of what happened in the limo,” Kinzinger said. “They claimed they’d come in and speak to us. They won’t do it. They have yet to come in.”

Multiple sources have offered similar accounts to Hutchinson’s, with Trump screaming something like “I’m the f**king president of the United States, you can’t tell me what to do” or “‘I’m the f’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now” and lunging for the steering wheel of the car or a Secret Service agent or both. Investigating exactly what happened has been made much more difficult by the fact that the Secret Service deleted text messages from the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. But when the people denying an account given under oath say they’ll speak under oath themselves and then don’t do it … 

Lofgren told CNN the committee hadn’t moved on the Secret Service officials until now because it  was working to “get through all the documentary evidence … over a million documents.” Recently, the Secret Service did turn over additional emails, chat logs, and radio transmissions.

But at this point, there’s limited time remaining and Ornato and Engel can be expected to drag their feet as so many other Trumpworld figures have done.

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