Cassidy Hutchinson raised a storm on Tuesday after testifying in front of the Jan 6 Committee. The former Mark Meadows aide said in her testimony said that former president Trump wrestled with a Secret Service agent and attempted to grab the wheel of the car he was traveling in, in an effort to divert his motorcade to the Capitol, where his supporters were assembling.
Many including Trump and his present and former aides have since claimed that what Hutchinson said under oat were all lies. Since then, a claim is being made that the U.S. Secret Service has officially debunked Hutchinson's testimony. Many are confused and want to know the truth behind it. Fact is that as of June 29, the U.S. Secret Service has not debunked any of the claims made by Hutchinson and the claim is completely false and misleading.
Misleading Claim
The confusion started hours after Hutchinson appeared before the Jan 6 Committee on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, author Nick Adams tweeted that the U.S. Secret Service "officially debunked defamatory claims" made by Hutchinson about former U.S. President Trump in front of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot panel.
At the end of the tweet, Adams added: "Will the fact-checkers correct the record?" However, he didn't stop there.
Sometime later, he again tweeted. This time he wrote that the former White House aide has been "exposed by the United States Secret Service as a fraud," trying to imply that Hutchinson's credibility as a live witness on Jan 6 Capitol Riot hearing has been questioned.
Those who read these two tweets started wondering. Many started believing that the claim was true and that the U.S. Secret Service has indeed "debunked" her testimony. Many tried to find out the authenticity behind the claim.
The fact is that the U.S. Secret Service has not "officially debunked" Hutchinson's testimony and as of Thursday morning, her testimony is being considered prime evidence in the hearing.
In actuality, both the tweets by Adams were misleading. Prior to these two tweets being posted, the Secret Service had not "officially debunked" anything Hutchinson said.
Unintentionally Misleading
Aside from the claim made by this rumor, Hutchinson's testimony may have been most important for the revelation that neither Trump nor Meadows acted sooner to stop the attack on the Capitol despite both knowing about the dangerous threat of violence on January 6—including that of armed supporters close to Trump's rally.
However, as far as the claim is concerned, Adams himself did not make it clear in the tweets which "slanderous claims" he was referring to about Trump from Hutchinson's testimony.
The claim further looked authentic because there were reports that a Secret Service agent is willing to testify that Trump didn't lunge at him. But that was it. The agency didn't "debunk" Hutchinson's testimony officially.
The only known statement from the Secret Service at the time was reported by CBS News, The Independent, and other outlets. These articles particularly used Hutchinson's testimony of the events on January 6, 2021, after Trump was driven from the location of his Ellipse speech in their reporting.
The only statement from the Secret Service so far is this: "The United States Secret Service has been cooperating with the Select Committee since its inception in spring 2021, and will continue to do so, including by responding on the record to the Committee regarding the new allegations surfaced in today's testimony."
Hence the claim is completely false and baseless.
