Trump was informed of prohibited items in Jan. 6 rally crowd, his driver testified

The head of Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail informed an agitated president on Jan. 6, 2021, that large groups of people had been denied entry to his rally that day because they were carrying prohibited items, the driver of his presidential SUV told congressional investigators, according to a transcript reviewed by POLITICO.

The testimony is further evidence that Trump was aware of potential security risks in the crowd, even before the mob had breached the Capitol.

The driver, who remains unidentified, drove Trump to and from his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. After the rally, Trump’s supporters — riled up by his fervid speech — marched down the street, where Congress was attempting to certify the results of the 2020 election.

The driver described Trump’s exchange that day with his lead Secret Service agent, Robert Engel, in testimony he gave in November 2022 to the House Jan. 6 select committee. The transcript of his testimony had remained in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security — under terms the committee agreed to in order to secure the witness’ testimony — after the committee dissolved last year, until this week.

The driver told lawmakers that Trump pressed Engel for information about why large swaths of the crowd were not permitted past security magnetometers. Engel responded, according to the driver, by indicating that they had been stopped because they were carrying unspecified items that were prohibited past the security checkpoint.

The New York Times and the Washington Post reported on other aspects of the driver’s testimony earlier this week.

The driver’s account adds to the body of evidence that captures Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6, a key aspect of the ongoing federal prosecution of the former president for attempting to subvert the election. Special counsel Jack Smith is attempting to prove that Trump was aware that the crowd he called to Washington presented a danger to the transfer of power, even as he made public statements that initially inflamed the crowd further. The transcript provides a new, firsthand glimpse of a private, unguarded moment Trump shared with his Secret Service detail.

President Joe Biden, according to the transcript, waived executive privilege to permit the driver to testify.

The driver couldn’t recall whether Engel told Trump about the security risks before his rally speech — when Trump urged the crowd he assembled to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” to persuade Congress to deny Biden the presidency — or shortly after. The driver also recalled that Engel didn’t explicitly say members of the crowd were carrying weapons; rather, he said Engel informed Trump that members of the crowd had items that were not allowed through the magnetometers.

The exchange preceded — by at least an hour — Trump’s tweet assailing his vice president, Mike Pence, who was sheltering inside the Capitol, for refusing to acquiesce to his plan to block Biden’s victory. Investigators have contended Trump’s tweet was a trigger for some of the worst moments of violence that day.

The driver’s testimony corroborates a key piece of testimony provided to the select committee by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Hutchinson’s explosive public testimony in June 2022 included her assertion that she overheard Trump, on the sidelines of his rally, concerned that his crowd looked too small and worrying that the magnetometers were keeping people out.

“I overheard the president say something to the effect of … ‘They’re not here to hurt me. Take the F’ing mags away. Let my people in,’” Hutchinson told the panel. “‘They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the F’ing mags away.’”

Trump has sharply disputed Hutchinson’s account, most forcefully her claim that another top Trump aide — Tony Ornato — had relayed an account that Trump was furious after his rally speech because the Secret Service had denied his plan to join supporters at the Capitol. Hutchinson recalled that Ornato had told her Trump became so irate that he lunged at Engel and toward the steering wheel of the SUV.

In an interview with conservative journalist John Solomon, Trump reiterated his objections to her account on Monday, calling them “made up, fabricated stories.” He also acknowledged, as he has before, that he pressed his Secret Service detail to take him to the Capitol, but denied that it was contentious.

"I said, I think, let's go down to the Capitol. And the Secret Service was very nice and said, ‘Sir, really better for you to go back to the White House … we're not prepared to go down there,'” Trump recalled. “And I understood that and it was no big argument.”

The driver told the Jan. 6 committee that he had no recollection of Trump lunging toward Engle and toward the steering wheel, and that he likely would have noticed if such a scuffle had occurred.

But the driver also confirmed other aspects of Hutchinson’s testimony, including that Trump was irate that morning because Pence had refused to accede to his demands. And he said that after Trump’s rally, Trump became insistent that the Secret Service take him to the Capitol, even though he was repeatedly told that doing so would be unsafe. Trump countered that he wasn’t concerned because the crowd was made up of his own supporters, the driver indicated.

In one exchange, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) emphasized that the committee had not interpreted Hutchinson’s testimony to suggest a physical assault had actually occurred. Rather, Cheney emphasized that Hutchinson was relaying a third-hand account. The driver agreed with her characterization and noted that he only watched Hutchinson’s testimony once — at the request of another investigating entity, though he didn’t specify which.

Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Trump, was appointed the same month the driver testified, but Justice Department prosecutors had been pursuing aspects of their Trump-related investigations for months before he joined. Inspectors general of multiple agencies have also been probing Jan. 6 and the government’s response.

The driver also indicated that he was summoned to answer questions about the episode by Secret Service attorneys two days after Hutchinson’s testimony.

In an exchange at the outset of the hearing, the driver’s attorney indicated that the driver had hoped to testify months earlier, shortly after Hutchinson’s bombshell allegations. Cheney responded that the reason for the months-long delay was that the Secret Service abruptly produced thousands of documents in August, September and October 2022, and the committee wanted to digest them before bringing in key witnesses.

The driver also indicated that he was among the large group of Secret Service officials who wiped his government-issued phone at the agency’s request during a 2021 upgrade, a decision that prompted significant scrutiny by the Jan. 6 committee.

Engel also testified to the select committee. His testimony is among the committee’s transcripts that remains nonpublic and in the custody of the Biden administration, though House Republicans are attempting to negotiate terms to obtain and potentially release some or all of his testimony.

Jordain Carney and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.