WASHINGTON: Then-president Donald Trump became irate and tried to grab the steering wheel of the Secret Service limousine when told he would not be joining supporters moving on the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, a former aide testified on Tuesday.

The president had just finished his speech at the Ellipse outside the White House where he exhorted supporters to march on the Capitol.

“I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,” Trump was quoted as saying by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in testimony to the congressional panel investigating the Jan 6 assault on the Capitol where lawmakers were meeting to certify Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.

When he got into the limo, nicknamed “the Beast,” he was told they would not be going to the Capitol, he had a very angry response.

A Secret Service agent had to physically restrain Trump who, sitting in the back seat, used his free hand to lunge towards the neck of Secret Service agent Robert Engel, Hutchinson testified.

“Mr Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel,” she testified.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2022