• Analysis
Grand jury declines Cassidy Hutchinson indictment over January 6 testimony
A federal grand jury in Washington has declined to bring a Cassidy Hutchinson indictment, rejecting a justice department request against the former White House staffer who testified about January 6, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The justice department failed on a Tuesday to persuade a grand jury to charge Cassidy Hutchinson, per two people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Details of the prosecutors' allegations against her were not immediately clear.
A rare refusal behind closed doors
A grand jury in Washington rejected the prosecutors' request to return an indictment charging Hutchinson. Sources described the outcome as the latest setback in the justice department's efforts to charge perceived adversaries of the Republican president. What exactly the allegations involved has not been made public.
What Hutchinson told the committee
Hutchinson gave her account of January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol to halt congressional certification of his election loss to Joe Biden. She spoke at a surprise hearing announced only 24 hours earlier, and Republican lawmakers later accused her of lying under oath in that 2022 testimony.
Her evidence covered several striking claims:
- •Trump tried that morning to let armed protesters avoid security screenings at a rally, she testified.
- •She said he grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to take him to the Capitol.
- •When the crowd chanted "Hang Mike Pence", Trump declined to intervene, according to her testimony.
Her proximity to power came from her role as special assistant to Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff.
Trump and allies pushed back
Trump denied much of her account on Truth Social, calling her a "total phony" and "bad news". Hutchinson also alleged that members of Trump's inner circle dangled job opportunities and financial assistance while she cooperated with the January 6 committee. She further testified that her lawyer, a former Trump White House ethics counsel, told her: "The less you remember, the better."
Context of the wider election cases
The House impeached Trump in 2021 on allegations that he incited the mob that attacked the Capitol, and the Senate later acquitted him. Separately, the justice department under Biden charged Trump with felony offenses for allegedly working to overturn his 2020 election loss, but special counsel Jack Smith abandoned the case after Trump's 2024 victory. Longstanding justice department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.
Who Cassidy Hutchinson is
Hutchinson is a native of Pennington, New Jersey. She worked in the White House office of legislative affairs and interned for Republicans including the representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana and the senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
