Grand Jury Declines Indictment of Hutchinson

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected a request from the Justice Department to indict Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday. Two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that prosecutors sought to charge the former White House special assistant. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Hutchinson served as a special assistant to Mark Meadows, who was President Donald Trump’s chief of staff during the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. In 2022, she provided testimony to the House committee investigating that event. Her account described Trump as angry and defiant while attempting to bypass security screenings at a rally. She also stated that he grabbed the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when Secret Service agents refused to let him proceed to the Capitol.

Republican lawmakers previously accused Hutchinson of lying under oath during her 2022 deposition. The grand jury decision marks a setback for the Justice Department’s efforts to charge individuals perceived as adversaries of the Republican president. Details of the specific allegations prosecutors planned to bring against Hutchinson were not immediately clear following the jury’s vote.

Hutchinson’s testimony included a description of an altercation inside the presidential vehicle. She acknowledged during her hearing that she was relaying information from a White House security official because she was not present in the vehicle. In March 2024, House Republicans released a transcript of the Select Committee’s interview with the Secret Service officer who drove the presidential SUV. That officer said he did not see an altercation and stated that Trump never grabbed the steering wheel.

The driver told the committee, “I didn’t see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all.” The transcript contradicted parts of Hutchinson’s account but corroborated her claim that Trump attempted to join the crowd at the Capitol. Hutchinson also testified that members of Trump’s inner circle offered her job opportunities and financial assistance while she cooperated with the committee.

During her testimony, Hutchinson said her lawyer, a former White House ethics counsel, told her that the less she remembered, the better. She told the committee, “It feels ridiculous, because in my heart I knew where my loyalties lied, and my loyalties lied with the truth.” Trump responded to her 2022 testimony by calling her a “total phony” and “bad news” on his Truth Social platform.

Hutchinson is a native of Pennington, New Jersey. She previously worked in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs and interned for Republicans including Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The House impeached Trump in 2021 for inciting the mob, but the Senate acquitted him. The Justice Department under President Biden later charged him with felony offenses, but special counsel Jack Smith dropped the case after Trump won the 2024 election.