The House Select Committee looking into the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is nearing the end of its examination of more than a million pages of Secret Service records and is preparing to call senior agents and officials to testify in the coming weeks, CNN reported, citing multiple sources.
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The committee is still actively seeking answers from the agency on a number of fronts, including whether it knew about threats prior to the attack, what former President Donald Trump knew about armed protestors heading to the Capitol, and how it responded to testimony about Trump’s altercation with his security detail that day.
The growing list, which reportedly includes about a half-dozen witnesses, demonstrates the committee is still trying to pursue answers from the agency, the CNN report notes.
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At its most recent session, the Committee provided additional internal Secret Service emails that showed agents were aware of threats made against then-Vice President Mike Pence on January 6. The committee issued a subpoena to the Secret Service after it was revealed that the agency had destroyed text conversations from the day of the attack.
Tony Ornato, a former assistant director of the Secret Service who left the organisation to briefly serve as Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and Robert Engel, Trump’s top Secret Service agent on the day of the attack, are two important witnesses that the committee has previously stated it intends to call back. The committee has previously had meetings with both men.
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Other witnesses reportedly being taken into account include:
Kimberly Cheatle: On January 6, the current Secret Service director, Cheatle, was also the Assistant Director of Protective Operations, making her the top operative in charge of guarding important government figures.
Anthony Guglielmi: He is the current communications director. Guglielmi, who was appointed in March 2022, was not working for the Secret Service at the time of the Capitol attack, but he has managed the agency’s response to significant developments in the committee’s inquiry, such as how the Secret Service has handled testimony from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about a contentious altercation between Trump and his agents on January 6.
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Timothy Giebels: Head of the detail for former Vice President Mike Pence.
The driver: The driver, whose name has never been made public, of former President Donald Trump’s motorcade on January 6.
Ornato’s attorney, Kate Driscoll, claimed up until recently that the committee had not asked for any more testimony from her client since his most recent appearance in March. In contrast, Driscoll stated on Thursday, “Mr. Ornato continues to cooperate with the committee in its investigation.”
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Giebels told CNN over the phone that the committee has not yet gotten in touch with him.
Secret Service’s spokesman declined to comment on anything, including who of its employees would be asked to testify before the committee.
The house committee did not comment.