Former president Donald Trump lunged at his security detail when they refused to take him to the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, a top White House aide said in a surprise public hearing before a House committee on Tuesday.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said Mr Trump grew "irate" and tried to grab the presidential limousine's steering wheel when he learned he was going back to the White House after speaking at a rally just ahead of the insurrection.
"I'm the [expletive] president. Take me up to the Capitol now," she recalled Mr Trump telling a Secret Service agent in the bulletproof Cadillac, nicknamed "The Beast".
Ms Hutchinson said his security officer, Robert Engel, told him to sit back.
"The president reached up to the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel," she said.
"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 lunged at Mr Engel, Ms Hutchinson said.
She said former White House chief of operations Anthony Ornato did not dispute the claim, pointing to his clavicle.
In some of the most explosive testimony from the hearings so far, Ms Hutchinson said Mr Trump and some of his top aides were aware of the possibility of violence ahead of the attack -- contradicting claims that the assault was spontaneous and had nothing to do with the administration.
Ms Hutchinson testified that she was "scared and nervous" in the days leading up to January 6, quoting a conversation she had with Mr Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's lawyer.
"Things might get real, real, real bad on January 6," she recalled Mr Meadows saying on January 2.
Mr Giuliani predicted that January 6 would be a "great day" and spoke of "going to the Capitol", she said.
Ms Hutchinson also recalled White House counsel Pat Cipollone telling her to try stopping the defeated president from going to the US Capitol with his armed supporters.
"Please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy," she said Mr Cipollone told her. "Keep in touch with me.
"We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen."
Ms Hutchinson said the crimes Mr Cipollone was suggesting included obstruction of justice and interference with the election count.
Mr Trump also demanded that his supporters enter the space where his rally was being held that morning without metal detectors, although several were carrying weapons.
"They're not here to hurt me," Ms Hutchinson recalled him saying. "Take the [expletive] Mags [security screeners] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here."
She repeated several times that her boss Mr Meadows said that Mr Trump believed the people involved in the Capitol attack were not doing anything wrong.
Ms Hutchinson said Mr Trump criticised vice president Mike Pence for "not standing with him" in certifying the 2020 election results for opponent Joe Biden.
She previously appeared before the committee in closed-door settings.
Because of “safety concerns” and her first-hand account of the day, the committee found it necessary to quickly hold a public hearing for Ms Hutchinson's evidence, Punchbowl News first reported.
Committee chairman Bennie Thompson praised Ms Hutchinson for her courage to appear before the panel. He said the House committee called the public hearing in light of information it received.
"As an American, I was disgusted" she said of the insurrection. "It was unpatriotic, it was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie."
Republican committee member Liz Cheney shared at the end of the hearing text messages witnesses received from people close to Mr Trump trying to influence them, suggesting witness tampering in depositions.
Ms Hutchinson described a president who smashed lunch dishes against the wall when his attorney general wouldn’t back election-fraud claims, ignored requests from his own lawyers to tone down his speech at the January 6 rally that preceded the riot, and ultimately turned callous when his vice president was under threat, suggesting he agreed with the rioters’ cries to hang Mike Pence.
Ms Hutchison's recorded evidence made appearances in previous hearings, in which she named the Republican members of Congress who sought pardons from Mr Trump after the assault on the US Capitol.
She also previously said she had seen Mr Meadows burn papers in his office after a meeting with Scott Perry, a Republican representative who sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, US media reported.
Mr Perry helped to push for the appointment of Jeffrey Clark to lead the Justice Department in assisting the president in his debunked claims of electoral fraud.
Mr Meadows has refused to give evidence before the House panel.
Thousands of text messages he provided before he stopped co-operating with the panel showed how White House officials and supporters pressed him to stop the attack on the Capitol.
Ms Hutchinson also testified on Tuesday that Mr Meadows wanted a presidential pardon.
The Justice Department said it would not pursue a criminal indictment against him.
Meanwhile, the FBI seized the phone of Mr Trump's former lawyer John Eastman, who supported the former president's efforts to overturn the election.
Mr Eastman said in a court filing on Monday that FBI agents took his phone last week.
He said the phone contained emails that the House investigatory panel had requested but that he had refused to hand over.
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First gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, US President Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden salute the crowd after their electoral victory on November 7, 2020. Outgoing president Donald Trump has yet to concede his loss. AFP -
Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for former president Donald Trump, gives a press conference in the car park of the Four Seasons landscaping company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after Joe Biden was declared as winner of the 2020 presidential election, which he claimed was false. As a result of these claims, Mr Giuliani can no longer practice law in the state of New York. EPA -
Donald Trump meets Clint Hickman, vice chairman of Arizona's 4th District, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr Hickman said that he refused to take calls from the White House and Mr Trump, who he said was trying to overturn the battleground state's results. AP -
Four days before the Capitol riot, Donald Trump placed a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked the official to 'find' 11,780 votes to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the battleground state. The House committee investigators have already interviewed election officials in the state. AP -
Ruby Freeman was an employee of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 2020 presidential election. After the state went to Joe Biden, Donald Trump accused Ms Freeman of stealing ballots in a call with Brad Raffensperger, who told Mr Trump that he was being misled by claims on social media. Reuters -
Kimberly Guilfoyle, engaged to Donald Trump's son, boasted to a Republican operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the January 6 Capitol riot. She may be called to testify. AFP -
Kash Patel, chief of staff to former acting secretary of defence Christopher Miller, gave a deposition on Capitol Hill to the committee on December 9, 2021. Members of the committee and staff members had been meeting with Mr Patel and 'Stop the Steal' organiser Ali Alexander. Getty Images / AFP -
The Willard Hotel in Washington played home to a 'war room' set up by advisers of Donald Trump and has become the focus of the congressional investigation into the January 6 attack. AFP -
Former White House chief strategist in the Trump administration Steven Bannon leaves a federal courthouse in Washington after being indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress. EPA -
Roger Stone, a former adviser and confidant of Donald Trump, gave a deposition before the committee in which he repeatedly pled the Fifth Amendment when questioned. Getty Images / AFP -
Bennie Thompson was chosen by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to lead the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol. Getty Images / AFP -
Bennie Thompson meets Liz Cheney, vice-chair of the select committee, Adam Kinzinger and Jamie Raskin on Capitol Hill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend contempt of Congress charges for former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark for defying his subpoena, refusing to answer questions and failing to hand over documents to the committee. Getty Images / AFP -
Liz Cheney, committee chairman Bennie Thompson and other members of the committee speak to reporters after meeting with Nancy Pelosi. Reuters -
Republican Scott Perry of Pennsylvania helped promote theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, resulting in millions of tax dollars spent on recounts in the state. Election workers there were also threatened with violence. Reuters -
Chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party Kelli Ward led the charge to pressure Maricopa County officials to invalidate the results of the 2020 presidential election. Ms Ward also said that 'outside agitators' were responsible for the deadly attack. AP -
Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman, admitted to speaking with Donald Trump on January 6. Reuters -
Lawyer John Eastman spoke with Donald Trump's personal legal representative Rudy Giuliani at the January 6 'Stop the Steal' rally in Washington. During the melee, Mr Eastman emailed Greg Jacobs, aid to vice president at the time Mike Pence, to say that it was Mr Pence's fault that the riot was taking place because he refused to block the election's certification results. Reuters -
Before Mike Pence could certify the Electoral College votes before Congress, the last step in the process before Joe Biden was to be sworn in, rioters breached the US Capitol. Outside the chamber doors, a person was shot and police officers were beaten and trampled as some rioters yelled: 'Hang Mike Pence!' EPA -
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said he has no intention of complying with a subpoena to appear before the committee and missed a scheduled deposition. Committee members voted unanimously to pursue criminal contempt charges against Mr Meadows for refusing to give evidence. AFP -
In a legal setback, a federal appeals court ruled against Donald Trump, demanding he turn over White House records to the committee. AP -
Fox News host Sean Hannity sent text messages to the White House during the January 6 insurrection. AP -
The Oath Keepers is a US militia group that recruits former members of the military and law enforcement, with many participating in the January 6 attack. The committee has sent a subpoena to its founder, Stewart Rhoades, and several members have been arrested. AP -
The select committee subpoenaed Enrique Tarrio, naming him as leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist group that responded to Donald Trump’s call to descend on Washington and which played a central role in the attack on the Capitol. EPA -
US Olympic swimmer Klete Keller can be seen, with arms extended and wearing a blue kerchief covering his face, during the attack on the US Capitol. He pled guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding and is co-operating with the committee. AFP -
House select committee member Liz Cheney told CNN that a witness said Donald Trump's daughter and former White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, pleaded with her father to put a stop to the violence that took place on January 6. Getty Images / AFP -
On January 9, 2021, Twitter banned Donald Trump after he tweeted his support for the rioters. Reuters -
'Stop the Steal' organiser Ali Alexander gave a deposition on Capitol Hill to the committee. Getty Images / AFP -
Stephanie Grisham, former White House Press Secretary under former US president Donald Trump, leaves the O'Neill House office building following a meeting with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Reuters
