Motorcade officer confirms Trump’s 'heated' Secret Service scuffle

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Mark Robinson, a retired Washington, D.C. police officer, was part of then-President Donald Trump’s motorcade in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. During a Monday, August 1 appearance on CNN, Robinson recalled Trump’s actions that day — saying that Trump was “upset” that he was unable to join his supporters when they marched from the Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol Building. Robinson told CNN host Don Lemon, “We’ve heard it several times while it was on the motorcade. I think during the speech, shortly thereafter, he had finished the speech, that the president was getting into the motorcade and he was upset. And he adamantly wanted to go to the Capitol. And even when we departed from the Ellipse, it was repeated again.... It was a heated argument in the limo. And he wanted to definitely go to the Capitol.” HuffPost reporter Marita Vlachou, in an article published on August 2, notes that Robinson’s comments on CNN “appear to be consistent with White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump got into a physical altercation with his Secret Service detail on January 6, and tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limousine in the hope of driving to the Capitol.” Hutchinson testified, “The president reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. (Secret Service agent Bobby) Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.’”