Trump Denies Being in 'The Beast' on Jan. 6 After Committee Released Video

In a social media post on Tuesday attacking the January 6 committee just hours before its next public hearing, former President Donald Trump denied he was inside the vehicle, called "the beast," where he allegedly lunged at a member of his security detail.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Trump's ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified on June 28 before the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol. During her testimony, she recounted being told by former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Tony Ornato that Trump allegedly got into a physical altercation with his security detail after his speech before the riot.

Hutchinson said she was told Trump allegedly wanted to join his supporters as they went to the U.S. Capitol, where they rioted and broke into the building in a failed attempt to force Congress to block President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.

But when Trump's security detail refused to take him, Trump allegedly tried to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle. Bobby Engel, then the head of Trump's security detail, explained that they couldn't go to the Capitol, allegedly prompting Trump to lunge at him, Hutchinson said.

In the Tuesday post on the former president's Truth Social platform, Trump issued his latest denial of Hutchinson's testimony, arguing that he was never even inside the vehicle where the alleged incident took place.

"Look at the people sitting on the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs. Have you seen them before? Yes, they are essentially the same lunatics that drove the Country 'crazy' with their lies and made up stories, like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of the others, who were caught in the act sooo many times, and now they're just going with this HOAX, which is as true as me trying to strangle a Secret Service Agent from behind in, she said, 'the Beast (I wasn't even in the Beast)!" Trump wrote in the post.

Despite Trump's denial, the January 6 committee played video appearing to show him being driven back to the White House inside the vehicle.

Trump has denied that Hutchinson's testimony, viewed as damaging to the former president, has any truth to it, though he has not previously denied being inside "the beast."

"Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is 'sick' and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself—Wouldn't even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing," he wrote as part of a slew of social media posts attacking Hutchinson after her testimony.

His latest denial came the same day the committee plans to hold its seventh live testimony, which is set to focus on how far-right groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys allegedly planned to storm the Capitol on January 6, as well as on their alleged ties to some members of Trump's inner circle.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.