DOJ goes after Cassidy Hutchinson over her explosive January 6 testimony — grand jury refuses to indict

THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

A federal grand jury in Washington rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to indict former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson over her January 6 congressional testimony.
Hutchinson’s sensational account of Trump allegedly lunging toward the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle was challenged by the Secret Service driver and other witnesses.
Republican congressional investigators accused Hutchinson of making false statements, but Tuesday’s grand jury declined to bring criminal charges.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

Cassidy Hutchinson, whose dramatic testimony about Donald Trump helped turn the January 6 congressional hearings into must-see political television, has avoided a federal indictment.

On Tuesday, a Washington grand jury rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to charge the former White House aide with lying to Congress.

The decision brings one of the most disputed episodes of the January 6 investigation back into the headlines: the extraordinary story of Trump allegedly lunging toward a Secret Service agent after being told he couldn’t go to the Capitol.

Remember that one?

It had everything Washington television producers could ask for: an angry president, a presidential limousine, a supposed struggle with Secret Service personnel and a young White House witness delivering the details under oath.

There was just one rather significant complication.

Hutchinson hadn’t witnessed the alleged confrontation herself.

During her June 28, 2022, testimony before the House January 6 committee, Hutchinson recounted what she said former White House official Tony Ornato had told her about an incident involving Trump and his presidential vehicle.

According to her account, Trump became angry after Secret Service personnel refused to take him to the Capitol following his speech near the White House.

She described an alleged attempt by Trump to grab the steering wheel and an encounter with Secret Service agent Robert Engel.

The account became one of the committee’s most sensational moments, dominating headlines and television commentary.

Trump vehemently denied the story.

Subsequent testimony from the Secret Service driver contradicted important elements of Hutchinson’s description, while other witnesses did not corroborate the specific account of Trump lunging toward an agent.

Republican lawmakers Jim Jordan and Barry Loudermilk later called attention to inconsistencies involving Hutchinson’s testimony and sought further scrutiny.

That dispute eventually reached the Justice Department.

Prosecutors sought an indictment accusing Hutchinson of making false statements to Congress.

But according to multiple reports Tuesday, the grand jury declined to approve the requested charges.

The result was confirmed by CBS News, ABC News, Fox News and the Washington Post, citing people familiar with the proceedings.

During a brief appearance in federal court, Justice Department attorney Neville Hedley informed Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui that the grand jury had returned a “non-concurrence,” meaning it declined to approve the proposed indictment.

The announcement did not publicly identify the proposed defendant or describe all the charges being considered, but reporting from several news organizations identified Hutchinson as the subject.

Her testimony had already attracted scrutiny beyond congressional Republicans.

ABC News reported that former special counsel Jack Smith decided not to treat Hutchinson as a material witness in his prosecution of Trump after determining that much of her testimony relied on hearsay.

That’s an interesting footnote to one of the most heavily promoted witnesses in the January 6 hearings.

The committee treated Hutchinson’s dramatic account as a major revelation. Yet the Justice Department’s own former special counsel reportedly took a more cautious approach when deciding which witnesses could support a criminal prosecution.

Hutchinson has consistently maintained that she told the truth.

Her supporters argue that the attempt to prosecute her is part of a broader Trump administration campaign against people who criticized or investigated the president.

Republican critics, meanwhile, continue to point to the disputed limousine story and other statements they say deserve scrutiny.

Tuesday’s decision is the latest frustration for Justice Department prosecutors attempting to bring politically sensitive cases before grand juries in Washington.

Other high-profile investigations, including proceedings involving former FBI Director James Comey, have also produced courtroom setbacks for the administration.

Fox News reported that it remained unclear whether prosecutors would make another attempt to indict Hutchinson.

The grand jury’s decision gives the former White House aide a significant victory in her long-running legal and political battle.

But it also returns public attention to a remarkable chapter of the January 6 hearings, when a secondhand account of an alleged presidential confrontation became one of the defining television moments of the investigation.

The questions raised by the conflicting testimony remain part of the congressional record, and Tuesday’s proceedings have ensured that Washington will be revisiting them yet again.