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Grand Jury Declines to Indict Cassidy Hutchinson
Confirmed
In Short: A federal grand jury declined to bring charges against Cassidy Hutchinson over her testimony related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Federal prosecutors were rebuffed in their effort to secure an indictment against former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson over her testimony related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to sources briefed on the grand jury proceedings.
Hutchinson, a top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified in 2022 before the House select committee investigating the 2021 Capitol attack, angering President Trump's allies and his base.
In her testimony, Hutchinson said that Trump and Meadows were warned on Jan. 6 that some of his supporters were carrying weapons to the Capitol, but Trump said he didn't care and tried to order officials to remove the magnetometers at the rally.
Hutchinson also testified that Trump lunged at the steering wheel in the car after being told that Secret Service agents were concerned about his safety.
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division had been handling the Hutchinson investigation, and a litigator with the division, Neville Hedley, confirmed that the grand jury had not concurred on the proposed indictment.
The grand jury heard evidence against Hutchinson in early October, and a senior U.S. official confirmed that the grand jury declined to indict her.
The grand jury's refusal to indict Hutchinson does not bar the DOJ from attempting to charge her again in the future.
Attorneys for Hutchinson and the Justice Department did not immediately return requests for comment.
Trump has called Hutchinson a “scam artist” who lied under oath and has suggested she be prosecuted.
The grand jury's decision does not preclude further investigation or potential future charges against Hutchinson.
What's confirmed
- Hutchinson, who was a top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, angered President Trump's allies and his base when she testified in 2022 before the House select committee investigating the 2021 Capitol attack.
- Hutchinson testified that Ornato had told her that in the car, Mr. Trump lunged at the steering wheel.
What's still developing
- "after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you."
- “It could be that the grand jury just made the wrong decision,” he said then, referring broadly to failed indictments.
- Her name was not mentioned in the courtroom when the no bill was announced, but the senior U.S. official confirmed it was the Hutchinson case.
- “What is the Justice Department going to do about this?” he wrote in a 2022 post on Truth Social.
- The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division presented the case to a federal grand jury, which typically consists of 16 to 23 members, but the panel rejected the effort, according to a source familiar with the matter.
- It is not clear what particular parts of Hutchinson’s testimony were being investigated, but one of the most damning anecdotes of Jan.
- The DOJ first launched its inquiry into Hutchinson earlier this year under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, a unique decision as matters involving perjury are typically conducted as criminal matters by the U.S.