'It’s better if you don’t': Trump confirms he asked Secret Service to take him to Capitol on Jan. 6

'It’s better if you don’t': Trump confirms he asked Secret Service to take him to Capitol on Jan. 6
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, greet by state and local officials. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
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Former Donald Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the House January 6 Committee in 2022 that her former boss attempted to take control of the steering wheel from his Secret Service agent in an effort to make his way to join rioters at the US Capitol.

Nearly two years later, Politico's Kyle Cheney reported that the former president confirmed his actions during a Wednesday rally.

"Trump just said at his rally that he did, in fact, ask his Secret Service driver on Jan. 6 to take him to the Capitol," Cheney wrote via X (formerly Twitter). "'I sat in the back. And you know what I did say? 'I’d like to go down there.' ... They said 'Sir, it’s better if you don’t.'"

READ MORE: Secret Service agents may have told grand jury about Trump’s desperation to join Jan. 6 riots: reporter

The Politico reporter added, "Of course, his driver told investigators Trump was adamant about going and was frustrated when he wasn't allowed. Testimony to the Jan. 6 committee also showed the mad scramble this caused among security agencies while also responding to threat to [former Vice President Mike] Pence/Capitol."

According to CNN, the MAGA hopeful "attempted to cast Hutchinson’s testimony" before Congress "as revenge, claiming she was 'very upset and angry that I didn’t want her' at his Palm Beach residence."

During a June 2022 Deadline: White House interview, host Nicolle Wallace spoke with Washington Post journalist Carol Leonnig about how Hutchinson's testimony.

"We don't know what Jack Smith and his team are asking those agents, but any former or current agent who's being questioned about Donald Trump's activities and White House activities in the days leading up to Jan. 6th is bound to get an earful about things that we've all reported on for more than a year," Leonnig said.

READ MORE: Mark Meadows and Trump’s Secret Service agents have testified

"What else is it that Jack Smith is going to learn from agents?" the Post reporter asked. "They could learn about Donald Trump's state of mind heading into Jan. 6th. Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, which you aired just now about Donald Trump being completely comfortable with his supporters having weapons, pistol, rifles, knives, flak jackets, bulletproof vests, bear spray, all of these things were being communicated to him in a risk assessment on the day of. Yet, he said I don't care. Take the magnetometers down. They can come and march with me to the Capitol."

CNN reported just days after Leonnig's interview, "Like Hutchinson, one source, a longtime Secret Service employee, told CNN that the agents relaying the story described Trump as 'demanding' and that the former President said something similar to: 'I’m the f—king President of the United States, you can’t tell me what to do.'"

READ MORE: Security official confirms Donald Trump's Secret Service scuffle

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