Former head of Trump security detail meets with Jan. 6 committee

Bobby Engel, the head of former President Trump’s security detail on Jan. 6, 2021, met Thursday with investigators from the committee probing the attack.

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) confirmed the appearance while speaking to reporters on Thursday, but offered few details about the discussion. Engel’s appearance in front of the Jan. 6 committee was first reported by CNN.

“We learned some additional information. And at some point we’ll plan to use it,” Thompson said, nodding to a final, forthcoming report from the committee.

The committee had renewed interest in Engel after explosive testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson relaying a story she heard from Tony Ornato, who served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff at the time.

Hutchinson claimed Ornato told her Trump “lunged” at his security detail and grabbed at the steering wheel of the car after being told by the Secret Service they would not turn back to bring the former president to the Capitol on the day of the riot.

The Secret Service, through anonymous sources, disputed Hutchinson’s account while promising more information that never came.

The panel later subpoenaed the Secret Service, asking it to turn over communications for the days surrounding Jan. 6 after the agency’s inspector general alerted Congress that messages from that day were “erased” as part of a device replacement program.

Engel was among those whose text messages from Jan. 6 were lost.