WASHINGTON — Secret Service official Tony Onato announced his retirement on Monday, two months after a former White House aide testified that he told her that then-President Donald Trump was refusing to drive him to Congress after agents refused to drive him to Congress. He angrily attacked him while building. On January 6, 2021, riots broke out among his supporters.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Onato is retiring after serving 25 years with the agency earlier this year. Ornato’s retirement was announced internally earlier in the day and first reported by CNN.
Ornato joined the Secret Service in 1997 and was the agent in charge of Trump protection details for most of his presidency. In December 2019, he left the Secret Service to become a member of the Trump administration as deputy chief of staff for operations. Last year, Ornato rejoined the Secret Service to lead its training program.
Ornato becomes central figure in congressional investigation into the events of January 6, 2021, following the June testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson before the House of Representatives on January 6 In his testimony before the select committee, he said, citing Onato, that Trump wanted to be rushed to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to fight for the steering wheel with Secret Service agent Bobby Engel. Secret Service officials denied there was any altercation in the president’s car. Ornato and Engel have not publicly commented on the account.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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