Bad Apple Leaves Secret Service

One less bad apple in the barrel:

Ex-Secret Service official Tony Ornato is defending the timing of his retirement after becoming a central figure in this summer's public hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Ornato, who also served as Former President Donald Trump's White House chief of operations from December 2019 until he left office in January 2021, announced on Monday that he was retiring from the Secret Service after a 25-year career. The announcement came two months after Ornato was prominently mentioned during a House panel hearing in which former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Ornato told her the former president had attempted to "lunge" at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV on January 6 while enraged over the denial of a request to join his supporters outside the Capitol.

Trump has denied that the incident took place, while Ornato and the driver of the SUV, Secret Service agent Bobby Engel, were also both reportedly willing to testify that Hutchinson's account of the alleged incident was false. However, neither of the men have testified to the committee since then and Ornato retained legal council while becoming a private citizen, according to CBS News. [snip]

Olivia Troye, an ex-adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, said during a Monday night interview on CNN that she found the timing of Ornato's departure to be "suspect." She also said that Ornato had brought "shame" to the agency and expressed concerns that his retirement could hinder efforts for him to testify before the House Committee investigating January 6th.

"I think the timing is suspect and interesting," Troye said. "I wonder what this means? He'll be a private citizen, what does this mean going forward as the committee hearings start up again? I actually think it's probably best for the Secret Service that Tony Ornato is leaving, he certainly brought a lot of disgrace and shame to the people who work there."  (our emphasis)

The Secret Service's reputation for professionalism was another victim of the Malignant Loser's disastrous 4 years (ETTD), thanks to people like Ornato and his recently- retired boss James Murray.  There are other corruptible people who served the Malignant Loser rather than the Constitution and their country who are still employed by the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security (incompetent/malicious DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari being but one egregious example).  They, too, need to be weeded out.  

(Photo:  "I got your back, Don Donald")

Hutchinson Testimony Corroborated

Attempts by Trumpworld (including some in the Secret Service) to cast doubt on the testimony of former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson regarding the Malignant Loser's unhinged behavior on January 6 just took a big hit:

Then-President Donald Trump angrily demanded to go to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and berated his protective detail when he didn’t get his way, according to two Secret Service sources who say they heard about the incident from multiple agents, including the driver of the presidential SUV where it occurred.

The sources tell CNN that stories circulated about the incident – including details that are similar to how former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described it to the House select committee investigating January 6 – in the months immediately afterward the US Capitol attack and before she testified this week.

While the details from those who heard the accounts differ, the Secret Service sources say they were told an angry confrontation did occur. And their accounts align with significant parts of Hutchinson’s testimony, which has been attacked as hearsay by Trump and his allies who also have tried to discredit her overall testimony. 

Like Hutchinson, one source, a longtime Secret Service employee, told CNN that the agents relaying the story described Trump as “demanding” and that the former President said something similar to: “I’m the f**king President of the United States, you can’t tell me what to do.” The source said he originally heard that kind of language was used shortly after the incident.

“He had sort of lunged forward – it was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don’t know,” the source said. “Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat – for what reason, nobody had any idea.”

The employee said he’d heard about the incident multiple times as far back as February 2021 from other agents, including some who were part of the presidential protective detail during that time period but none of whom were involved in the incident.

The source added that agents often recounted stories of Trump’s fits of anger, including the former President throwing and breaking things.

“Not just plates,” the source added, a reference to how Hutchinson testified this week that she saw ketchup on the wall and a porcelain plate shattered on the floor of the White House dining room after Trump had thrown his lunch at the wall upon hearing about then-Attorney General William Barr telling a media outlet there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election. (our emphasis)

If Malignant Loser acolyte Tony Ornato or any other Secret Service agent who has already provided sworn testimony -- or will in the future -- is found to have lied or been evasive in their account of the Malignant Loser's actions on or about January 6, obviously they need to be removed from their positions and prosecuted.  It's been noted that the January 6 committee wouldn't have let Hutchinson go out on a limb with her account of what Ornato and agent Bobby Engel told her about the events that day without corroboration from other witnesses.  Now, with others coming forward, it's more important than ever to cull the toadies, enablers and liars who remain in positions of authority.

But the key point hasn't been contested:  that the Malignant Loser wanted to go to the Capitol to lead the insurrection but was saved from his own unhinged instincts by some around him.  That's the most damning fact.

(Photo:  Ornato and the Malignant Loser)