Former White House deputy chief of staff expected to meet with January 6 committee Tuesday - CNN

CNN  — 

The House prime committee investigating the Capitol riot is interviewing erstwhile White House lawman main of unit Tony Ornato connected Tuesday, a perchance cardinal witnesser whose grounds could shed caller airy connected erstwhile President Donald Trump’s movements starring up to and connected January 6, 2021, according to 2 sources acquainted with the panel’s work.

Former Trump adjutant Cassidy Hutchinson testified backmost successful June that Ornato, who transitioned backmost to his station astatine the US Secret Service aft Trump near bureau and retired earlier this year, told her the erstwhile president lashed retired successful choler and lunged astatine a subordinate of his protective item arsenic helium demanded to beryllium taken to the Capitol connected January 6.

Tuesday’s virtual interrogation is the archetypal clip Ornato has met with the sheet since Hutchinson’s testimony. Ornato met with the committee doubly prior to his expected interrogation connected Tuesday, erstwhile successful January and again successful March.

Hutchinson testified that Ornato told her that Trump got truthful aggravated erstwhile informed helium could not spell to the Capitol aft his code astatine the White House Ellipse connected the greeting of January 6 that helium lunged astatine the pb cause of his motorcade, Robert Engel, and said thing to the effect of “I’m the effing president. Take maine up to the Capitol now.”

“The president reached up towards the beforehand of the conveyance to drawback astatine the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said ‘Sir; you request to instrumentality your manus disconnected the steering wheel. We’re going backmost to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr. Trump past utilized his escaped manus to lunge towards Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson testified.

Hutchinson said that Ornato told her the communicative of Trump being “irate” backmost astatine the White House bureau aboriginal that time with Engel present. She said Engel, whom CNN antecedently reported has besides interviewed with the committee successful caller weeks, “did not close oregon disagree with immoderate portion of the story.”

Hutchinson’s grounds of Ornato’s statement of the altercation was nether oath during the committee’s nationalist June 28 proceeding and has go a cardinal lawsuit successful the timeline of Trump’s movements connected January 6. The sheet interviewed Engel for the archetypal clip since Hutchinson’s nationalist grounds connected November 17.

Neither Ornato and Engel person denied Hutchinson’s grounds connected the record. A Secret Service official, who spoke connected information of anonymity, antecedently told CNN that Ornato denies telling Hutchinson that the erstwhile president grabbed the steering instrumentality of his statesmanlike SUV oregon an cause connected his detail.

Members of the sheet person agelong said they privation to telephone Ornato backmost successful for further questioning.

“We’re successful a presumption successful the precise adjacent aboriginal to telephone the witnesses from the Secret Service backmost successful for a fewer further questions,” Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a committee member, told CNN’s Pamela Brown connected “CNN Newsroom” successful October.

Committee subordinate Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, told CNN successful September that members of the sheet judge Ornato was personally progressive successful efforts to discredit Hutchinson’s grounds portion helium was inactive astatine the bureau and said unnamed Secret Service officials and others simply adopted his broadside of the story.

“I conscionable deliberation it’s truthful important to support successful caput that, done quote, anonymous sources, which we judge to beryllium really Tony Ornato himself, helium pushed backmost against Cassidy Hutchinson’s grounds and said, it’s conscionable not existent and Tony volition attest nether oath,” helium told CNN. “And past of course, has not travel successful to attest nether oath.”

In summation to the motorcade incident, Ornato could besides beryllium cardinal to helping investigators capable successful different blanks pertaining to the Secret Service.

Questions implicit imaginable deleted Secret Service substance messages surrounding January 6 emerged implicit the summertime which resulted successful the sheet demanding much accusation from the bureau via subpoena. The bureau yet provided astir 1.5 cardinal communications from the lead-up to the attack, including emails and readying documents to the committee, according to an bureau spokesman. The batch of records, however, bash not see the substance messages mislaid to a information migration that prompted a transgression probe by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.

Members had said they wanted to decorativeness going done the worldly earlier calling Ornato and different agents and officials backmost in.

In its October hearing, the committee revealed it had obtained messages and emails showing the bureau received warnings earlier January 6 astir the imaginable of violence, arsenic good arsenic real-time reports of weapons successful the assemblage up of Trump’s code astatine the Ellipse arsenic portion of the monolithic trove of documents it received.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said successful that proceeding that that the Secret Service received alerts of online threats made against erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence up of the Capitol riot, including that Pence would beryllium “a dormant antheral walking if helium doesn’t bash the close thing.”

On January 6, 1 Secret Service cause texted astatine 12:36 p.m., according to the committee, “With truthful galore weapons recovered truthful far; you wonderment however galore are unknown. Could beryllium sporty aft dark.”

Another cause responded minutes later, “No doubt. The radical astatine the Ellipse said they are moving to the Capitol aft the POTUS speech.”

Ornato’s expected interrogation with the committee connected Tuesday comes arsenic the sheet has moved astatine a accelerated clip to bring successful arsenic galore arsenic fractional a twelve much Secret Service agents and officials. In caller weeks the sheet has interviewed the onetime caput of Pence’s information detail, Tim Giebels; erstwhile Secret Service cause John Gutsmiedl; bureau spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi; the Secret Service cause who was successful the pb car connected January 6; and the operator of Trump’s statesmanlike conveyance connected January 6.