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A former White House aide said Trump grabbed the wheel of his SUV and an agent on Jan. 6.
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Former Secret Service agents questioned the account in interviews with Insider.
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One said Trump’s “circumference would prevent him from actually getting to the wheel”.
Former President Donald Trump would have had to squeeze through an “extremely tight” space to grab the wheel of his SUV and lunge at a Secret Service agent, as former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified Tuesday.
It’s not impossible, a former Secret Service agent said, but it’s not likely for the 6-foot-3, almost 250 pounds Trump, who, according to the agent, is also “not the most agile human being”.
“Trump isn’t a little boy, is he? And the space to actually jump to the wheel isn’t that big,” the former agent said, speaking to Insider in the background. “I don’t want to sound disdainful of the former president, but only his size would prevent him from actually getting behind the wheel.”
Hutchinson talks about the falling-out episode was one of the most explosive charges during an extraordinary day of testimony Tuesday before the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. She said she was told it happened when Bobby Engel, the special agent in charge of Trump’s security, prevented Trump from joining his supporters when the riots began in the Capitol. She related a description of the events she heard immediately after it happened from Tony Ornato, then the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, with Engel in the room.
“The president reached out to the front of the vehicle to grab the wheel,” she said. Angel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the wheel, we’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel,” said Hutchinson, adding that Ornato “gestured his collarbones” as he told the story.
angel previously said to the committee over a disagreement over Trump’s desire to go to the Capitol and return to the White House instead, POLITICO reported last month. But CBS News and NBC News have reported that Secret Service agents are willing to testify that Trump did not try to take over the SUV or lunge at them.
“We have and will continue to make every Secret Service member available to the committee,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Insider.
Former Secret Service agents questioned the account in interviews with Insider.
“There’s just too much gray area to bet the farm on,” said Bill Pickle, a former Deputy Assistant Director of the Secret Service. “Am I saying it didn’t happen? I’m not going to say that because we all know this guy can be quite emotional… I’ve never heard anything credible about that happening.”
The fully armored SUV is not like a typical Suburban. There are safety features separating the front and back seats and the rear seats that make space “extremely cramped,” said the former officer speaking in the background.
“You have to be a bit of a contortionist to get from the back cabin to the front cabin and the president is not a contortionist,” he added.
Officers are trained to move quickly in the opposite direction, from the front to the back seat, for a medical situation. “It’s ridiculous. I mean, it’s not a pretty sight,” the former agent said, adding that it’s “hard to believe” that the president would do that.
“It’s not impossible, right? But it would…” said the former cop with a laugh, “I can’t see this president ever doing that. Someday.”
Read the original article Business Insider