“I retired from the U.S. Secret Service after more than 25 years of loyal service to my country, including serving the last five presidents,” he said Monday, according to the New York Times. Mr. Ornato added that he had “long” intended to retire, a plan he said he had had for more than a year. The agent was thrust into the national spotlight in June when Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, testified during hearings on Jan. 6 that Mr. Ornato told her that Donald Trump had jumped behind the wheel of his limousine and attacked a Secret Service. agent when his security detail refused to take him on an unscheduled visit to the Capitol on January 6. According to Ms. Hutchinson, Mr. Ornato recounted Trump screaming: “I’m the president who fights. Take me to the Capitol now.’ Although Mr. Ornato has not spoken publicly about the incident, unnamed sources close to him and the Secret Service told reporters that the alleged altercation inside the limousine did not occur. The Secret Service said it would continue to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation and noted that it had made Mr. Ornato available for interviews with the committee when he was still a federal employee. He has yet to appear before the committee after Ms. Hutchinson testified, Politico reports. Despite the controversy over Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony, several officials have vouched for her credibility, including the select committee’s vice chairwoman, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Several former Trump officials have questioned Mr. Ornato’s credibility. Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, tweeted amid hearings on Jan. 6 that her former colleague Mr. Ornato “certainly seems to deny the conversations he apparently had” with other Trump White House officials. “Those of us who worked [with] Tony knows where his faith lies,” he added. “He will have to testify under oath.” Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah also claimed on social media: “Tony Ornato lied about me too.”
