White House aides pitched having Trump 'peacefully protest' in a glass box near the Capitol on January 6: testimony

Trump waving to the crowd at a
Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Dalton, Georgia on January 4, 2021.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

  • Some White House aides wanted President Donald Trump to "peacefully protest" outside of the Capitol in a glass box on January 6.
  • Tony Ornato, a former aide and Secret Service agent, testified the idea was "ridiculous."
  • Trump ultimately didn't join the crowd as they swarmed the Capitol building on January 6.

White House aides floated the idea of having President Donald Trump "peacefully protest" in a glass box on a stage outside of the Capitol alongside supporters on January 6, 2021, newly-released testimony from the House January 6 Committee reveals.

Tony Ornato, a former Secret Service agent and White House aide, testified in a deposition in late November that two White House aides— Bobby Peede and Max Miller — asked him if the president could join supporters and protest Congress counting of the electoral votes.

"I thought this was a ridiculous idea," Ornato said.

When Ornato asked what Trump would even do outside of the Capitol, the aides suggested placing Trump in a secure glass box on a stage.

US Capitol riot
Riots at the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

Michael Nigro/Pacific Press:LightRocket/Getty

"They said... they would build maybe a small stage, and the service can glass him in, and he could peacefully protest with people near the Capitol grounds," Ornato said the aides suggested, before repeating that it was a "ridiculous" idea.

Prior hearings from the January 6 Committee previously revealed that Trump wanted to protest outside of the Capitol with supporters on January 6 — he also said in a public speech on January 6 that he would march to the Capitol alongside them.

But despite his wish to go to the Capitol that day, his team shot down the idea and brought him back to the White House. 

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, testified at a January 6 Committee hearing that the president was irate after learning he could not join the protesters, going as far as lunging at a Secret Service agent for not bringing him to the Capitol.

Read the original article on Business Insider


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