The Washington Examiner has learned the Secret Service had not been contacted for its thoughts on the videotaped claims by the former aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows before her public testimony, and a source close to the Secret Service said that Tuesday was the first time the agency had heard the claims about Trump allegedly trying to grab the steering wheel in the presidential vehicle and lunging toward a Secret Service agent on Jan. 6.
Several people involved in the events of the day have reportedly disputed Hutchinson’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee, which is led by Democrats. Tuesday's hearing with Hutchinson was a surprise, announced just a day before. The committee previously said it would not hold any more hearings after last week's events until July.
Hutchinson claimed in the hearing that the story had been recounted to her on Jan. 6 by Anthony “Tony” Ornato, then the White House's deputy chief of staff for operations, as Robert “Bobby” Engel, then head of Trump's security detail, listened. She was not in the vehicle when the supposed altercation took place.
Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, told the Washington Examiner that there was “new information” alleged by Hutchinson in the hearing. Guglielmi said that “we are willing to make anyone in the Secret Service available to comment on the record” about the events in question, including the allegations of a physical altercation.