EXCLUSIVE: Secret Service agent Bobby Engel, 52, who had to 'restrain' Donald Trump when his security refused to take him to the Capitol with January 6 mob lands a less stressful job as field office head in Tampa

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The decorated Secret Service agent who allegedly got into a tussle with Donald Trump in the back of the Beast during the January 6 riot can be pictured for the first time – as a source tells DailyMail.com: 'He would take a bullet for his president – but he can't lie to Congress.' 

Special Agent in Charge Robert 'Bobby' Engel was the lead agent on Trump's detail throughout his time in office, during which he dedicated his life to shielding and evacuating the president 'at any cost.' 

Now though, the federal law enforcement agent has taken up a much tamer job in Tampa, Florida, where he is now the head of the agency's field office.  

On Tuesday, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House Select Committee that Trump had lunged for the presidential limo's steering wheel after Engel refused to drive him to the US Capitol to join rampaging supporters.

Her bombshell testimony has set the scene for lawmakers to recall Engel to ask whether it's true that he was forced to restrain the president who allegedly responded by grabbing Engel around the neck.

Bobby Engel walked side-by-side with Trump when the then-president infamously had crowds dispersed from Lafayette Park in Washington so he could hold a bible outside St. John's Church

Engel is expected to refute former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony that he was forced to restrain President Donald Trump in the presidential limo on January 6 2021. The Secret Service agent is pictured (left) ushering the president out of his car in June 2020 

The former senior White House aide testified on Tuesday that Trump (pictured on January 6, 2021) was aware that some of his supporters could not get into his Stop the Steal rally because they were armed - and that he was reportedly 'furious' about it

Engel gave evidence to the January 6 committee earlier this month, reportedly telling a closed-door session that the two men 'took different views' as they drove back to the White House instead of Capitol Hill after the Ellipse rally which preceded the 2021 rioting.

But it's unlikely the Marine corps vet, 52, would have volunteered details of the supposed physical clash unless he was specifically asked about it, one former agent told DailyMail.com – citing the Secret Service motto of 'Worthy of Trust and Confidence.' 

'They are the inner circle – the most trusted of the trusted,' our source explained. 

'It's not about protecting Trump or Joe Biden or whomever is in power, it's about protecting the relationship between the Secret Service and the Office of President.

'You have to be relied upon not to divulge the things you see and hear so it's unlikely this agent would speak openly about what happened in the limo, if indeed anything happened.

'However there is a difference between exercising discretion and being asked a question under oath. If they subpoena him and ask him a direct question about it I would expect him to answer.'

The Secret Service said Wednesday that it would soon respond 'on the record' to the 'new allegations' contained in Hutchinson's explosive testimony.

Several media outlets have reported that both Engel, the then-head of Trump's security, and the Beast's thus-far unnamed driver were both prepared to challenge her claims, citing Secret Service sources. Neither man has commented publicly.

Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, told the January 6 Committee that she heard about the alleged clash from White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato.

'I looked at Tony, and he said, "Did you f***ing hear what happened in the Beast?" Hutchinson told the panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans in Tuesday's hastily arranged session.

Trump had just given a fiery speech to his supporters outside the White House repeating accusations that his 2020 election loss was down to voter fraud before climbing back into his armored SUV, she recounted.  

'So when the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capitol. And when Bobby had relayed to him: "We're not, we don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West Wing," the president had a very strong and very angry response to that,' Hutchinson said.

Engel was ever-present at the president's side throughout his time in office and was there for some of his most controversial episodes

Engel was with Cabinet members and Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and others who followed Trump to St. John's Church on June 1, 2020 

E The ex-Marine was with his daughter Kirsten  when she graduated from the elite Virginia Military Institute In Lexington, Virginia this year 

Engel and his wife Gail, 51, lived in this magnificent 5-bed, 7 bath house an hour outside Washington before selling it for $1.2 million and moving to Florida

 'Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, "I'm the f***ing president! Take me up to the Capitol now!" To which Bobby responded, "Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing".'

Hutchinson said Trump then reached towards the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel, forcing Engel to intervene.

'Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said: "Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we're going back to the West Wing. We're not going to the Capitol." 

'Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel,' Hutchinson added.  

The former aide said Ornato motioned to his clavicles while recounting the confrontation, hinting that Trump – who has declared Hutchinson's evidence a 'fake story' and branded her a 'whack job' – tried to grab Engel by the throat.

Engel and Ornato both gave closed-door testimony prior to Hutchinson's intervention but details have not been disclosed, according to reports.

A June 8 Politico article stated that Engel and Trump discussed the outgoing president's desire to head to the Capitol as the rioting began to unfold, but that he and Engel merely 'took different views on the topic', citing a person familiar with the agent's testimony.

 Square-jawed Engel was an ever-present figure at the president's side throughout his time in office and was there for some of his most controversial episodes.

Pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show him flanking Trump during a June 2020 walk to St. John's Church for a photo op after protestors were forcibly removed from Lafayette Square, across from the north side of the White House.

Former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson was the January 6 committee's surprise witness on Tuesday where she claimed that Trump had 'lunged' at Engel

The president's vehicle is a heavily-armored car known as 'The Beast,' driven by Secret Service agents. This graphic shows another similar model of The Beast to the SUV version Trump was in on January 6

'There is a rigorous selection process and you have to be highly skilled and experienced to get this job,' the former Secret Service agent told DailyMail.com.

'You have to travel with the president wherever he goes. It's incredibly demanding and it involves a lot of sacrifice. This guy's job was to run on stage and take a bullet for the president – he's the final line of defense.'

Engel and his wife Gail, 51, lived in a five-bedroom, $1.2million home in Waterford, Virginia an hour from D.C., during his time protecting Trump but he relocated to Florida after Biden took office.

His daughter Kirsten graduated from the elite Virginia Military Institute In Lexington, Virginia this year and was commissioned into the US Army, citing her dad as her inspiration.

Engel is also a presidential appointment to the 11-member Medal of Valor Review Board which reviews nominations and recommends awardees.

Engel now heads the Secret Service's Tampa Field Office, where he and his new team busted a counterfeit currency ring in January, according to a Secret Service media release.

Combating counterfeit currency was the original mission of the agency when it was formed in 1865 before it was expanded in 1901 to include the Presidential Protection Division, which is charged with guarding the Commander-in-Chief and his immediate family.

 In the event of an attack, agents are responsible for shielding and evacuating the president 'at any cost – including with their lives' as well as organizing motorcades and protecting foreign leaders. 

Hutchinson testified that Trump was so angry that his Secret Service agents refused to take him to the Capitol on January 6 that he lunged forEngel's throat

Camera-shy Bobby Engel (left) did pose for a family portrait posted on Facebook in 2018

Private Leslie Coffelt is the only Secret Service agent to have been killed while protecting a president after he was shot three times while saving Harry S. Truman from gun-toting Puerto Rican nationalists in 1950.

Special Agent Tim McCarthy took a bullet to the chest but survived after he stepped in front of Ronald Reagan during a 1981 assassination attempt.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the Democrat-led January 6 committee which is examining accusations that the rioting was not a spontaneous attack but rather a coordinated 'last stand' from the former president and his allies as they tried to upend the 2020 election result and cling to power.

On Thursday he dismissed Hutchinson as a 'climber' and laughed off suggestions he would get into a fight with burly Secret Service agents, telling Newsmax: 'These guys lift 350 pounds - I don't.'

He added: 'This lady yesterday, there's something wrong with her. Is there something wrong? She said I jumped from a car and I started strangling - think of this - I started strangling a Secret Service agent who I know very well.'