“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted Thursday after one other former Trump White House official, Alyssa Farah, questioned Ornato’s honesty.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), one other Jan. 6 committee member, said in a Wednesday interview with NBC that Ornato “did not have as clear of memories from this period of time” as Hutchinson did.
Their feedback, echoed by different choose panel lawmakers and aides, got here because the committee started rallying around Hutchinson after her testimony painted an image of an out-of-control Trump that raised new questions on his culpability for the occasions of Jan. 6.
Her look additionally drew intense backlash from Trump and his allies. And certainly one of them, former Trump White House aide Keith Kellogg, stated Ornato’s sworn testimony must be trusted.
“Like all USSS Agents, he was highly professional, circumspect in everyday action and trusted,” tweeted Kellogg, who met with investigators in December. “I would take his sworn testimony to the bank.”
Ornato, a veteran Secret Service agent of greater than twenty years with stints within the presidential safety division beneath former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was detailed to the White House by Trump in late 2019 and appointed deputy chief of workers, an uncommon association for a legislation enforcement official. He has interviewed twice with the choose committee — as soon as in January and as soon as in March, in response to two folks acquainted with his appearances.
In his January interview, in response to an individual who described the exchanges, Ornato recounted varied recollections of Jan. 6, together with a number of that drew skepticism from the committee. Among them:
— Ornato informed the choose panel that Trump could not have been conscious then-Vice President Mike Pence was nonetheless contained in the Capitol when he attacked Pence on Twitter at 2:24 p.m. on Jan. 6. That tweet got here minutes after rioters had damaged into the Capitol and, by many accounts from the scene, intensified the fury of the mob. Ornato informed the committee he’d initially knowledgeable then-chief of workers Mark Meadows — incorrectly — that Pence had been evacuated from the Capitol to his residence on the time of that tweet. It’s unclear why Ornato initially believed Pence had been taken from the Capitol grounds or how lengthy it took for the report back to be corrected.
— The panel additionally requested Ornato a couple of 3:13 p.m. tweet from Trump on Jan. 6 asking rioters — who had violently attacked police for hours — to “remain peaceful.” Investigators requested whether or not he thought Trump ought to have issued a extra forceful order for the rioters to go house. Ornato informed the committee there was nothing extra Trump, or anybody, may have performed to name off the assault. A slew of different witnesses have delivered testimony at odds with Ornato’s, contending Trump was in a novel place to steer rioters to depart the Capitol because the siege dragged on.
The panel referred to as Ornato again to complement his testimony in March. It’s unclear what he mentioned with investigators in his subsequent interview.
Ornato drew intense scrutiny this week after Hutchinson testified that he informed her about Trump’s habits inside his presidential automobile after addressing a “Stop the Steal” rally by his supporters on the morning of Jan. 6. Trump was intent on touring to the Capitol to rally backers who have been contesting the election outcomes, Hutchinson recalled Ornato saying, and have become enraged when the pinnacle of his Secret Service element on the time informed him they’d be returning to the White House as a substitute of becoming a member of the protest.
Hutchinson testified that Ornato informed her Trump was so indignant, he made a bodily movement towards the steering wheel in addition to the clavicle of his element’s chief.
Her secondhand account was certainly one of a number of searing depictions she provided the committee of a president livid in his intent to subvert his loss to Joe Biden. Hutchinson additionally supplied granular particulars about Trump’s pre-Jan. 6 conferences and efforts to overturn the election. She additionally testified that on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump knew a few of his supporters have been armed and intent on marching to the Capitol.
Hutchinson stated Ornato had described the automobile incident in a huddle along with her and the pinnacle of Trump’s element, Robert Engel, after the rally. Engel, she stated, didn’t contradict any side of Ornato’s story on the time.
But inside hours of her public testimony, experiences emerged suggesting that Ornato and Engel have been each keen to seem beneath oath and contradict Hutchinson’s account. Neither man has spoken publicly since Tuesday, however the promise of future contradictory testimony ignited a furor amongst Trump allies, who argued that it discredited Hutchinson’s whole look.
Other questions have additionally since emerged about Hutchinson’s testimony. A spokesperson for former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann indicated that Herschmann — not Hutchinson — wrote a be aware on Jan. 6 that mirrored a proposed assertion for Trump to ship amid the riot, opposite to Hutchinson’s account.
Hutchinson’s attorneys, Jody Hunt and William Jordan, say she stands by her sworn testimony.
A Secret Service spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi, declined to reply to the main points of Ornato’s January testimony or the criticisms choose committee members have begun lodging in opposition to him.
“I spoke to Mr. Ornato and we will share our first hand account with the Committee under oath and on the record,” Guglielmi stated. “It’s not appropriate to make comments in the media before we have that chance to formally address the members of Congress.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the choose committee’s vice chair, didn’t criticize Ornato by title however broadly defended Hutchinson’s credibility throughout an interview Wednesday with ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
“I am absolutely confident in her credibility. I’m confident in her testimony,” Cheney stated. “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.”
Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
