ANTHONY ORNATO, TOP SECRET SERVICE OFFICIAL SOUGHT BY INVESTIGATORS FOR ROLE IN JAN. 6, RETIRES UNEXPECTEDLYAnthony Ornato, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for operations, announced his retirement just two days before a planned interview with Inspector General investigators.Anthony Ornato, a top Secret Service official embroiled in the January 6 investigation, retired today, just two days before his planned interview with January 6 investigators. The Intercept obtained an email Ornato sent to the deputy director of the Secret Service just after 1 p.m. announcing his retirement as of the close of business on August 29.
“We can confirm that Anthony Ornato retired from the U.S. Secret Service today in good standing after 25 years of devoted service,” Secret Service spokesperson and special agent Kevin Helgert told The Intercept on Monday evening.
Ornato had finally agreed to an interview with Department of Homeland Security investigators on August 31 after multiple attempts to arrange one. According to a memo sent by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the head of the Secret Service, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and DHS general counsel, the inspector general had been attempting to interview Ornato since June 29 and spent all of July and much of August following up.
For example, Ornato cited vacation as a reason he couldn’t attend an interview. “I believe my counsel spoke to you and / or your team, but I am traveling out of district on annual leave and am not available on the dates provided,” Ornato wrote in an email on August 24. “When I am back from vacation, I will circle back with you and your team.”
This is one in a string of access issues the inspector general has experienced in relation to January 6, as The Intercept reported last week.
Ornato has indicated that he still intends to attend the interview, according to an email obtained by The Intercept, but since Ornato will be a private citizen, investigators won’t have testimonial subpoena authority to compel his cooperation.
Ornato was a longtime Secret Service agent before President Donald Trump took the unprecedented action of appointing him to a White House position as deputy chief of staff for operations.
The Intercept reported in July that the Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2022, after they were requested by oversight officials. Congress had also sent document preservation requests to the Secret Service.
Ornato may have played a key role in the insurrection at the Capitol. On January 6, he reportedly sought to relocate Vice President Mike Pence to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which could have delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
According to explosive testimony from Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House January 6 committee, Ornato told her that he was in the car with Trump when the president demanded to be driven to the Capitol, against advice, and allegedly lunged for the steering wheel.
Ornato has reportedly met with the January 6 committee twice, in January and March, as part of its investigation, discussing Trump’s knowledge of Pence’s location during the unrest on January 6.
After President Joe Biden entered the White House, Ornato was moved to the role of assistant director of the Secret Service’s Office of Training.
https://theintercept.com/2022/08/29/january-6-secret-service-anthony-ornato-retirement/'The timing is suspect': Pence security adviser sounds the alarm on Secret Service official's retirementOn Monday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," former Mike Pence homeland security adviser Olivia Troye highlighted the timing of Secret Service Assistant Director Tony Ornato's retirement — just as House investigators want more information from him in the January 6 probe.
"I think the timing is suspect and interesting," said Troye. "I wonder what this means, he'll be a private citizen, what does this mean going forward as the committee hearings start up again. I actually think it's probably best for the Secret Service that Tony Ornato is leaving. He certainly brought a lot of disgrace and shame to the people who work there. Who are great people of law enforcement that I have gotten to know. I think it will be interesting to see how these plays out, and I'm also very curious to see where his future employment will be."
"The committee have made it clear, they believe that he is a key figure in all this who could ... really shed light on the president's mindset on the day of the insurrection and his desire to be taken to the Capitol after that speech," said anchor Poppy Harlow, turning to former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham. "How critical do you think it is that this committee hear from him?"
"Oh, I think it's vital that the committee hears from him," said Grisham. "Certainly now that he's leaving the Secret Service, it was my understanding they were going to cooperate, albeit that hasn't happened yet. When I spoke to the January 6th Committee, I said over and over that Tony Ornato is a key person to know exactly what is going on. As deputy chief of staff for operations, you know everything that's going on logistically, behind the scenes, and politically. You kind of have to. I think this timing is interesting, and I'm going to echo Olivia, I think it will be very interesting to see what he does next, where he goes, who he works for."
Ornato has been a key figure disputing the testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, most notably her claim that former President Donald Trump attacked a Secret Service agent who refused to drive him to the Capitol so he could join the insurrectionists. He also has faced mounting questions amid the scandal of missing text messages on Secret Service phones from the day of the attack.
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