The JANUARY 6th REPORT
CHAPTER 7.3 The PRESIDENT’S ANGER when he COULD NOT MARCH to the CAPITOL
President Trump concluded his remarks at 1:10 p.m. Luna heard the President mention his intention to join the march to the Capitol “after he finished his remarks.”77 Just before the President got into his vehicle,
Meadows told him, “We’re going to work on it, sir.”78 President Trump
was seated in his motorcade vehicle by 1:17 p.m.79
The Committee received information informally from current and former members of the Secret Service and former White House staff relevant
to what happened next—what a number of witnesses have described as an “angry,” “irate,” or “furious” interaction in the Presidential vehicle
between the President and the Secret Service.80 That initial information,
received informally, shaped the Committee’s questioning of witnesses. The Committee’s principal concern was that the President actually intended to participate personally in the January 6th efforts at the Capitol, leading the effort to overturn the election either from inside the Chamber or from a
stage outside the Capitol. The Committee regarded those facts as important
because they are relevant to President Trump’s intent on January 6th. But a book published by Mark Meadows in November 2021 made the categorical
claim that the President never intended to travel to the Capitol that day.81
Because the Meadows book conflicted sharply with information that was
being received by the Committee, the Committee became increasingly wary that witnesses might intentionally conceal what happened.
In our initial informal discussion with the lead of the President’s detail,
Robert Engel confirmed that President Trump did wish to travel to the
Capitol from the Ellipse, but stated that he did not recall many other
details.82 But the Committee also received information from Kayleigh McEnany and Cassidy Hutchinson that also directly contradicted Mark Meadows’s book and provided considerably more detail. McEnany testified that President Trump did indeed wish to travel to the Capitol on January 6th,
and continued to have that goal even after returning from the Ellipse to the White House.83 McEnany, who spoke with President Trump shortly after here turned to the White House, recalls him expressing a desire to go to the
Capitol: “I recall him . . . saying that he wanted to physically walk and be apart of the march and then saying that he would ride the Beast if he needed to, ride in the Presidential limo.”84 When asked, McEnany confirmed that
“yes, he did seem sincere about wanting to do that.”85 Hutchinson’s testimony was generally consistent with the information the Select Committee was receiving informally. Like McEnany, Hutchinson confirmed that the
President did ask to be transported to Capitol Hill.86 Many other White
House witnesses would ultimately confirm that President Trump wished to travel to the Capitol on January 6th, comprehensively rebutting the false
statements in Meadows’s book.87
Part of Hutchinson’s account was a second-hand description of what
occurred in the Presidential vehicle, which built upon and was consistent
with information the Committee has received informally.
Hutchinson testified that, when she returned from the Ellipse, Ornato was standing outside his office door when he “waved me down,” Hutchinson said. The two of them walked into Ornato’s office, and he shut the door
behind them.88 Engel was already there, sitting in a chair “looking down,
kind of looking a little lost and kind of discombobulated.”89
According to Hutchinson, Ornato then recounted a struggle in the
President’s car.90 At no point during Ornato’s telling—or at any point
thereafter—did Engel indicate that what Ornato relayed was untrue.91
Another witness, a White House employee with national security
responsibilities, provided the Committee with a similar description: Ornato related the “irate” interaction in the presidential vehicle to this individual
in Ornato’s White House office with Engel present.92 And just as Hutchinson testified, this employee told the Select Committee that Engel listened to Ornato’s retelling of the episode and did not dispute it: “I don’t remember
his specific body language, but . . . [h]e did not deny the fact that the President was irate.”93 Engel testified that he does not recall either the conversation with Hutchinson or the similar conversation with the White House
employee with national security responsibilities.94
The Committee regarded both Hutchinson and the corroborating testimony by the White House employee with national security responsibilities
national security official as earnest and has no reason to conclude that
either had a reason to invent their accounts. A different Secret Service
agent, who served on a protective detail at the White House and was present in the presidential motorcade at the Ellipse, provided this view:
Committee Staff: Just a couple of additional questions. Ms. Hutchinson has suggested to the Committee that you sympathized with her
after her testimony, and believed her account. Is that accurate?
Witness: I have no—yeah, that’s accurate. I have no reason—I
mean, we—we became friends. We worked—I worked every day
with her for 6 months. Yeah, she became a friend of mine. We had a
good working relationship. I have no reason—she’s never done me
wrong. She’s never lied that I know of. I don’t have any reason—I
don’t—I don’t distrust Ms. Hutchinson.95
Also, the White House employee with national security responsibilities
indicated that knowledge of the angry altercation in the Presidential vehicle was known within the White House—and was “[water] cooler talk.”96 In addition, Hutchinson has provided testimony to the Committee about
efforts by her prior counsel, who was apparently paid by a Trump-funded Cassidy
organization, to suggest that Hutchinson did not need to testify about the
issue in the presidential vehicle, could suggest that she “did not recall” it,
or should downplay it.97
To further corroborate the accounts received of President Trump’s
intent to travel to the Capitol, the Committee interviewed a member of the Metropolitan Police who was also present in the motorcade, Officer Mark Robinson. Officer Robinson confirmed that he was aware contemporaneously of the “heated discussion” that took place in the Presidential vehicle:
Committee Staff: And was there any description of what was occurring in the car?
Mr. Robinson: No. Only that—the only description I received was
that the President was upset and that he was adamant about going
to the Capitol, and there was a heated discussion about that.
Committee Staff: When you say “heated,” is that your word, or is
that the word that was described by the TS agent?
Mr. Robinson: No. The word described by the TS agent meaning that
the President was upset, and he was saying there was a heated
argument or discussion about going to the Capitol.
. . .
Mr. Schiff: So about how many times would you say you’ve been
part of that motorcade with the President?
Mr. Robinson: Probably over a hundred times.
Mr. Schiff: And, in that hundred times, have you ever witnessed
another discussion of an argument or a heated discussion with the
President where the President was contradicting where he was supposed to go or what the Secret Service believed was safe?
Mr. Robinson: No. 98
