Ornato already met with Jan. 6 committee twice: Report

A Secret Service official who featured prominently in testimony before the House select Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, has reportedly met with the panel twice this year.

Anthony “Tony” Ornato, who served as White House’s deputy chief of staff for operations, testified in January and then in March, divulging details about what former President Donald Trump knew of then-Vice President Mike Pence’s whereabouts as the Capitol riot unfolded and other tidbits that had drawn some skepticism from the committee, Politico reported Thursday.

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This week, Ornato became the center of controversy over a story of an alleged incident in which Trump became irate and attempted to commandeer the presidential car and strike a Secret Service agent. During her public testimony Tuesday, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said Ornato recounted this tale to her. Robert “Bobby” Engel, who was head of Trump’s security detail, was in the room when she heard the story and did not dispute any of it, she also testified.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Both Engel and Ornato are prepared to testify that Trump did not go for Engel’s throat or attempt to seize the wheel, according to CNN. An unidentified Secret Service source further told the news outlet that Ornato denies telling Hutchinson that story.

When Ornato gave testimony to the panel in January, he said he erroneously told then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that Pence had been moved from the Capitol when rioters stormed the premises, Politico reported. Ornato also told the committee he believed Trump could not have done anything more to have called off the riot once it began. This was met with some skepticism from committee members, according to the report.

Some members of the committee have seemingly cast aspersions on Ornato’s credibility.

“Ornato did not have as clear of memories from this period of time as I would say Ms. Hutchinson did,” Jan. 6 committee member Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) told NBC on Wednesday.

Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has maintained she has “full faith” in Hutchinson’s testimony. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) has also voiced doubts about Ornato.

“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Kinzinger tweeted Thursday in response to claims from Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communications, that Ornaoto lied in the past.

Griffin claimed that Ornato previously denied that an exchange between her and Meadows took place, despite witnessing it. She had told Meadows officials needed to warn the press that they were clearing Lafayette square during a protest in 2020, but Meadows replied “we aren’t doing that.”

Griffin’s tweet had come in response to a tweet from Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Pence. Troye referenced a Washington Post report about how former Trump White House aide Keith Kellogg was discontent with Ornato’s plans to move Pence to Join Base Andrews around the time of the riot. Pence was in the Capitol that day to oversee the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Ornato denied that report, prompting Troye to question his credibility.

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Kellogg jumped to Ornato’s defense Thursday, emphasizing that he trusts him.

“I was privileged to know USSS Special Agent in Charge Tony Ornato. Like all USSS Agents, he was highly professional, circumspect in everyday action, and trusted. I would take his sworn testimony to the bank,” he tweeted.

Hutchinson has so far stood by her testimony. “Ms. Hutchinson stands by all of the testimony she provided yesterday, under oath, to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” reads a statement written by her attorneys, Jody Hunt and William Jordan.