Tipsheet

Here's What Happened When Trump's Secret Service Driver Tried to Testify for J6 Select Committee

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 05, 2024 11:45 AM

This article has been updated to include another post from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) about the revelations.

The more we learn about what went on with the now former January 6 Select Committee, the worse it seems to get. The June 2022 testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, considered a star witness by the Committee's members, all of whom were selected by then Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has once more garnered attention. It turns out that former and potentially future President Donald Trump's Secret Service driver wanted to quickly testify to refute her testimony, though he was "rebuffed."

Just the News is reporting that the driver was "rebuffed" for months, which has been confirmed by a transcript of the interview, as well as by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who is investigating the Select Committee for the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight. The timing conveniently lined up with the November 2022 midterms elections, with Democrats performing far better than expected.

As the report mentioned:

The transcript of the driver’s testimony reviewed by Just the News shows his lawyer complained that his client had offered to testify in July, August and September of 2022, but was “rebuffed” by the January 6 committee led by Chairman Rep. Benny [sic] Thompson, a Democrat, and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican, both fierce opponents of Trump.

“We're talking about the driver of the limousine, and the head of the entire protective detail,” Loudermilk said during a wide-ranging interview with the "Just the News, No Noise" television show. “They were brought in by the select committee to testify, but they weren't brought in until November.

“It was in June when they paraded Hutchinson before the world, and they let the world hear the stories. And what's interesting is in the very beginning of the driver’s testimony, his attorney starts off by chastising the select committee,” Loudermilk also said. “And he said we offered to come in July, August, September, and now it's November. So we found out for the first time that the driver had been offering to come in and testify under oath as far back as just a few weeks after Cassidy made these claims, but the select committee would not bring them in.”

Loudermilk’s description is confirmed by the transcript, which also shows the Secret Service driver testified Trump never tried to reach for or grab the wheel of the SUV as Hutchinson, who wasn’t in the vehicle, alleged in her testimony.

...

During his interview Tuesday, Loudermilk made clear that he has deep concerns about the way Thompson and Cheney conducted the January 6 investigation, noting they kept transcripts from his committee for months after he took over and still have not produced videotapes of many of the interviews.

“Well, it's kind of clear that it either was the worst case of preserving documents in the history of the House of Representatives, or that they were only trying to keep those testimonies away,” he said. “Because, you know, immediately they bring Cassidy Hutchinson to the forefront, then they wait until November to even bring in the Secret Service agent.”

Coverage from Townhall at the time of Hutchinson's testimony highlighted problems, and Katie even noted in at the time how the Secret Service was looking to rebut that testimony, with former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino also calling BS. 

Recommended

The Republican Party Has Two New High Profile Members Katie Pavlich
Who Can Trust White House Reporters Who Hid Biden's Infirmity? Brent Bozell and Tim Graham

A Townhall headline from June 28, 2022 read that "Oops: J6 Committee Star Witness' Creditability About Trump Might Take a Huge Hit." Almost two years later, it looks like that headline has been increasingly vindicated.

The report is particularly damning to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who lost her primary in August 2022 by nearly 40 points to now Rep. Harriet Hageman. While she appears to have had no qualms about parading Hutchinson and her testimony around, Cheney insisted that the Committee wanted to have the Secret Service turn all the documents over before they heard the driver's testimony. That was the excuse she herself gave, per the transcript, as Just the News is reporting.

If one were to expect members of the Select Committee to behave honestly, one would think that the driver's testimony would be paramount over a young aide who wasn't even in the vehicle. But again, the Committee and its members have been plagued with problems as more details are revealed.

Loudermilk's pinned post to his X account is still the March release of that damning report about the January 6 Select Committee. He also shared a Fox News article on Tuesday night about how "Liz Cheney communications with ex-Trump aide sought in House GOP Jan 6 committee probe," referring to the anti-Trump Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is now a co-host of "The View."

This revelation has received considerable attention over social media, with Jonathan Turley, a professor and legal expert, writing a blog post on the matter.

In addition to summarizing the report, Turley also chimed in on how such details tarnish the Committee's credibility. "Many of us support the effort to bring greater transparency to what occurred on Jan. 6th and these hearings have offered a great deal of important new information. Indeed, it has proven gut-wrenching in the accounts of lawyers and staff trying to combat baseless theories and to protect the constitutional process," he wrote. "Yet, the heavy-handed approach to framing the evidence by the Committee was both unnecessary and at times counterproductive. The strength of some of this evidence would not have been diminished by a more balanced committee or investigation."

He also argued letting Republicans pick their members--then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) picks of Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN) were vetoed by Pelosi--"would have added credibility to the process."

"If the Committee had a single member with a dissenting or even skeptical viewpoint, testimony on issues like the fight in the presidential limo could have been challenged before it was thrown before the world," Turley wrote in conclusion. "That was clearly not in the interests of the J6 Committee or the media, which eagerly spread this false account."

Our sister site of Twitchy also picked up on Turley's blog post, highlighting a concern as to what else the Committee members have lied about.

Turley's post received attention from Loudermilk as well, in the form of a quoted repost, with the House Judiciary Committee X account also reposting Loudermilk.