Z.W. Wolf
Senior Member.
This is a partial transcript from the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack public hearing on June 28.
There has been a lot of speculation on social media that the actions described by Hutchinson are physically impossible.
Typical comments are:
"Trump was in the front seat? C'mon."
"Trump broke through the glass partition"?
This photo is often reproduced.
I think it would be possible to take the wheel even in this vehicle - The Beast. It just depends how much motivation you had. And the partition is no problem. The text in the upper left hand bubble says, ... glass partition - only Trump has a switch to lower it.
However, it's the wrong car. During the hearing, the correct car was shown. It's an armored Chevrolet Suburban called The Bunker.
It would seem that Trump is visible in the right middle seat. No one is visible in the right passenger seat, but that could be deceptive. There might be someone there we can't see.
Playable video
Clearer photo of Trump in The Bunker from October of 2020. Sitting in right middle seat.
I can't find a photo of the interior of The Bunker. But this is the interior of a stock 2019 Chevrolet Suburban.
That's the best I can do so far. But there doesn't seem to be any serious impediment to a large man leaving the middle right seat and reaching to grab the steering wheel. It's unclear where Bobby Engel was sitting.
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: When I returned to the White House, I walked upstairs towards the chief of staff's office, and I noticed Mr. Ornato lingering outside of the office. Once we had made eye contact, he quickly waved me to go into his office, which was just across the hall from mine. When I went in, he shut the door, and I noticed Bobby Engel, who was the head of Mr. Trump's security detail, sitting in a chair, just looking somewhat discombobulated and a little lost.
I looked at Tony and he had said, did you f'ing hear what happened in the beast? I said, no, Tony, I — I just got back. What happened? Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in the beast, he was under the impression from Mr. Meadows that the off the record movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to happen, but that Bobby had more information.
So, once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capitol. And when Bobby had relayed to him we're not, we don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West Wing, the president had a very strong, a very angry response to that.
Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of I'm the f'ing president, take me up to the Capitol now, to which Bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the West Wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.
We're going back to the West Wing. We're not going to the Capitol. Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And Mr. — when Mr. Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.
LIZ CHENEY: And was Mr. Engel in the room as Mr. Ornato told you this story?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: He was.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel correct or disagree with any part of this story from Mr. Ornato?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Mr. Engel did not correct or disagree with any part of the story.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel or Mr. Ornato ever after that tell you that what Mr. Ornato had just said was untrue?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Neither Mr. Ornato nor Mr. Engel told me ever that it was untrue.
There has been a lot of speculation on social media that the actions described by Hutchinson are physically impossible.
Typical comments are:
"Trump was in the front seat? C'mon."
"Trump broke through the glass partition"?
This photo is often reproduced.
I think it would be possible to take the wheel even in this vehicle - The Beast. It just depends how much motivation you had. And the partition is no problem. The text in the upper left hand bubble says, ... glass partition - only Trump has a switch to lower it.
However, it's the wrong car. During the hearing, the correct car was shown. It's an armored Chevrolet Suburban called The Bunker.
It would seem that Trump is visible in the right middle seat. No one is visible in the right passenger seat, but that could be deceptive. There might be someone there we can't see.
Playable video
Clearer photo of Trump in The Bunker from October of 2020. Sitting in right middle seat.
I can't find a photo of the interior of The Bunker. But this is the interior of a stock 2019 Chevrolet Suburban.
That's the best I can do so far. But there doesn't seem to be any serious impediment to a large man leaving the middle right seat and reaching to grab the steering wheel. It's unclear where Bobby Engel was sitting.
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