Cheney ‘Absolutely Confident’ in Hutchinson’s Testimony after Anonymous Sources Question Her Credibility

 Despite reports that Secret Service agents are disputing former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s claims about President Trump’s behavior ahead of the Capitol riot, Republican Wyoming Senator Liz Cheney said she remains “absolutely confident” in the aide’s credibility.

Hutchinson, who served as an aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified Tuesday before the before the January 6 committee. She alleged Trump became “irate” after being told by his Secret Service detail that security concerns prohibited him from going to the Capitol following his January 6 speech. As the president was being driven back to the White House, Cassidy claims she was told that he lunged toward the steering wheel of the vehicle he was riding in and, when agent Bobby Engel restrained him, lunged toward Engel’s neck.

Cassidy claims that head of White House security Tony Orenato, who was in the vehicle at the time of the incident, relayed the events to her shortly after they occurred in the presence of Engel, who did not dispute the account Orenato provided.

The driver of the vehicle and Engel are prepared to testify under oath that “neither man was physically attacked or assaulted by Trump and that the former president never lunged for the steering wheel of the vehicle,” a source close to the Secret Service told CBS News and NBC’s Peter Alexander.

One current and one former law enforcement official speaking to the Washington Post said three Secret Service agents who were close to Trump on January 6 also disputed that he ever grabbed the wheel or lunged at Engel.

Cheney, one of the anti-Trump Republicans on the January 6 committee, cast doubt on the anonymous sources, saying she’s “absolutely confident” in the details of Hutchinson’s testimony.

“I am absolutely confident in her credibility. I’m confident in her testimony. The committee is not going to stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege,” Cheney said in an interview with ABC News about the hearing, according to an advanced excerpt from Politico.

The committee has spoken to Ornato and Engel as well as a “number of individuals in the Secret Service,” Cheney claimed in the interview. The committee welcomes any additional testimony under oath about the incident, she added.

Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief of communications, appeared to dispute Cheney’s claims in a comment to Politico, saying no service personnel were contacted to appear before the committee after Hutchinson’s testimony.

“[W]e were not asked to reappear before the Committee in response to yesterday’s new information and we plan on formally responding on the record,” he wrote in an email to the outlet. “We have and will continue to make any member of the Secret Service available.”

Secret Service personnel were not asked to reappear or answer questions about Hutchinson’s testimony in the ten days leading up to the hearing, Guglielmi added.