Did Tony Ornato deny telling Cassidy Hutchinson the Trump steering wheel story
Executive summary
Tony Ornato has publicly and in committee interviews disavowed the specific relay Cassidy Hutchinson described — saying he “does not recall” conveying to her the dramatic account that President Trump lunged for the steering wheel and then at Secret Service agent Bobby Engel — a denial reported by multiple outlets and cited by the House Republican report; at the same time, investigators and some reporters have flagged contradictions among eyewitnesses and expressed skepticism about whether Ornato’s memory is reliable or whether others corroborate Hutchinson’s version [1] [2] [3].
1. The claim Hutchinson made about the SUV and Ornato’s role
Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan. 6 committee that Tony Ornato told her shortly after the rally that President Trump became “very angry,” reached for the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when told he could not go to the Capitol, and then lunged at Secret Service lead agent Robert Engel — a vivid anecdote she presented as secondhand reporting from Ornato and that she said Engel did not dispute in the room [4] [5] [6].
2. Ornato’s response: denial and “does not recall”
In interviews with the committee and in media reporting, Ornato pushed back on Hutchinson’s retelling — telling investigators he “does not recall that he conveyed the information to Cassidy Hutchinson” and denying that he briefed her on a steering-wheel grab, a rebuttal picked up by outlets including Business Insider and reported as a key contradiction to Hutchinson’s account [1] [2].
3. Other denials and the Secret Service posture
The Secret Service as an institution and individual agents have also pushed back on the more sensational elements of Hutchinson’s testimony: reporting shows Engel and other Secret Service sources have denied that Trump grabbed the wheel or lunged at an agent, and agency statements were widely quoted as disputing Hutchinson’s characterization even as they affirmed there was a tense, angry exchange about travel to the Capitol [2] [3] [7].
4. Contradictory witness statements and the GOP report
Subsequent depositions and a Republican-authored House report amplified contradictions: the driver of the presidential SUV said he did not see Trump reach for the wheel or lunge toward Engel, and the GOP report cited Ornato and other White House employees as not corroborating Hutchinson’s version — a line of argument Republicans advanced to undercut Hutchinson’s credibility, while committee investigators expressed skepticism of Ornato’s memory and timing [3] [8] [1].
5. Media fact-checking and disputed characterizations of “denial”
Media fact-checkers and reporting have noted nuance: some headlines framed the story as the Secret Service or Ornato “debunking” Hutchinson, while fact-checkers cautioned that Ornato’s statement was not an absolute categorical refutation in every outlet’s early reporting and that different sources used different language, from flat denials to “does not recall” formulations; Snopes and others point out the distinction between outright debunking and a claimed lack of recollection [9] [1].
6. Assessment: did Ornato deny telling Hutchinson the steering-wheel story?
Yes — according to the public record assembled by committee transcripts and news reporting, Ornato denied that he conveyed to Hutchinson the specific story that Trump grabbed the steering wheel and lunged at an agent, telling investigators he did not recall making such a report; however, that denial exists amid conflicting eyewitness testimony (including the SUV driver and other White House staff who said they never heard the story), active skepticism by some committee members about Ornato’s claim, and divergent framing across outlets, meaning the denial is documented but contested and not the final word on the underlying factual dispute [1] [3] [8] [2].