Jan 6 surprise hearing latest: Trump grabbed steering wheel and attacked Secret Service agent, Cassidy Hutchinson testifies

Donald Trump strangely took days before he made his first posts on Truth Social, his pet social media app.

He’s certainly on the site now, using it to unload on witnesses who testify before the January 6 committee.

Republican representative Liz Cheney, a member of the House select committee investigating the last year’s 6 January attack at the Capitol, retweeted an article that argued that the case to prosecute the former president is getting stronger after the bombshell hearing.

The article, titled “The Case for Prosecuting Donald Trump Just Got Much Stronger” from The Dispatch by David French concluded that Mr Trump may not face criminal charges for his actions but the latest testimonies have helped link the former president to violent actions in the run up to Capitol riots.

An “irate” Doanld Trump grabbed the steering wheel of his limousine and attacked a Secret Service agent when he was told he was not being taken to the US Capitol, the January 6 committee has been told in its most stunning hearing yet.

In cool, measured tones, that were in stark contrast to the incidents she was describing, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said she was told Mr Trump wanted to go to the Capitol so badly he attempted to grab the steering wheel of “The Beast” after being told he was going back to the White House instead.

He also grabbed at the “clavicle” of a Secert Serice agent, Ms Hutchinson testified.

Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, told Ms Hutchinson that Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent in charge on January 6 2021, had repeatedly told Mr Trump on their way back to the White House after his rally speech that it was not safe to go to the Capitol.

Andrew Buncombe has the details.

In one of the gripping scenes Cassidy Hutchinson recalled, she Mr Trump threw his lunch — including the plate it had been served on — against the wall of his private dining room. It left behind a smear of ketchup on the wall.

She said it was in reaction to former attorney general William Barr’s declaration that the presidential election had not been tainted by fraud.

They’re the latest in an ever-growing list of Trump inner circle members who sought pardons related to the Capitol riots.

Here’s Gustaf Kilander’s story.

The January 6 committee is alarmed that Donald Trump or his allies may be attempting to tamper with the testimony of witnesses participating in the congressional inquiry.

“Most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns,” committee vice chairwoman Liz Cheney said on Tuesday.

The committee shared anonymous testimony on Tuesday from January 6 witnesses detailing mob-style threats from unnamed people inside the Trump camp.

“What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I’m on the team, I’m doing the right thing, I’m protecting who I need to protect, you know, I’ll continue to stay in good graces in Trump World,” the witness told legislators.

Read our full report on this new dimension to the January 6 hearings.

A lawyer, who is pressing a lawsuit against Donald Trump and others on behalf of 10 Democratic lawmakers said the damming testimony yesterday could give a major boost to the civil lawsuits against the former president.

“The testimony that came today I think was very powerful confirmation that Trump knew and expected the crowd that was assembled was going to engage in violent action directed at the Capitol with the intention of interfering with the ability to ratify the results of the election,” Joseph Sellers said.

He said the claims that Mr Trump was aware of weapons in the crowd were “highly relevant” to the civil suits and could make him liable for his intention of using violence and threats to force members of Congress to overturn the election.

“This evidence goes a good deal towards confirming that that was the purpose of Trump’s actions,” he added.

John Eastman, a lawyer linked to Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the result of the 2020 election, has voluntarily dropped a lawsuit aimed to block the 6 January committee from obtaining his phone records.

In a filing on late Tuesday, Mr Eastman dropped the suit, saying that he has been assured by the committee that it was only to seek his call logs and not the content of the messages.

The House select committee has long said that it does not have the authority to obtain the content of the messages.

It came as he claimed the FBI stopped him outside a restaurant and seized his phone. And a new video appears to show the moment the incident occurred.

The star witness at Tuesday’s last-minute House January 6 select committee hearing wasn’t a top-level Trump confidante such as ex-White House Counsel Pat Cipollone or former vice president Mike Pence.

Instead, it was Cassidy Hutchinson, who ended the Trump administration as a special assistant to the president assigned as then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ assistant.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s look at the surprising star witness.

One of the stranger stories from today’s January 6 hearing is that Donald Trump allegedly lunged for the wheel of a presidential limo when he was upset his staff wouldn’t take him to the Capitol.

The Secret Service has said it is cooperating with the committee to look into what happened.

However, Bobby Engel, a lead Secret Service agent protecting Donald Trump, as well as the presidential limo driver are both prepared to testify that such an incident never occured, according to NBC News.