Donald Trump tried to grab the steering wheel from a US Secret Service agent when told he would not be taken to the US Capitol during the riots, a former White House aide told the January 6th hearing.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Mr Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, appeared in a live hearing by the committee investigating the Capitol riots on Tuesday.
Ms Hutchinson, 25, told the panel Mr Trump was angered after being told he would not be taken to the Capitol and quoted Mr Trump saying: “I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”
She testified that a Secret Service agent had to physically restrain Mr Trump who, sitting in the back seat, used his free hand to lunge toward the neck of Secret Service agent Robert Engel.
Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed Congress on 6 January 2021 in a bid to thwart Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
Ms Hutchinson also testified that Mr Trump did not care that supporters at the January 6 rally preceding the riot were armed with weapons including AR-15-style rifles.
She said the then-president was angry that the Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the president, was using magnetometers to keep armed people out of the fenced-off area where he gave his speech.
The former White House aide said: “I overheard the president say something to the effect of ‘I don’t f****** care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f******-ing mags away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in, take the f****** mags away.”
Earlier hearings from the committee have focused on different aspects of the riot, including Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to upend the 2020 election results.
Mr Trump has consistently dismissed the ‘January 6th Committee’ as a Democratic Party witch-hunt despite most of the witnesses being Republican Party members.