Federal Grand Jury Declines to Indict Former White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson Over January 6 Committee Testimony
A federal grand jury in Washington has declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on October 27. The Justice Department has been investigating Hutchinson over whether she gave false testimony to the congressional panel that probed the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; Hutchinson has maintained that her testimony was truthful.
According to Reuters, a federal prosecutor told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui during a court hearing on Tuesday that a grand jury in Washington had rejected an indictment, but the prosecutor did not reveal in court the proposed defendant or the charges. A second source said the grand jury weighing evidence in the case had been meeting on Tuesday. The source familiar with the matter confirmed the rejected indictment concerned Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, became one of the most prominent witnesses before the House January 6 select committee in 2022, testifying that she had been told Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent after the agent would not drive him to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that Meadows had been warned about possible violence that day. Trump allies and some Secret Service agents have disputed parts of her account.
The case reached the Justice Department after Representative Barry Loudermilk sent a criminal referral earlier this year, which House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan signed onto; such referrals are recommendations only and do not themselves produce charges. The grand jury's refusal ends this attempt to secure an indictment.
Trump pardoned nearly everyone criminally charged over the 2021 Capitol attack on his first day back in office in January 2025. Former special counsel Jack Smith and his team had indicted Trump in 2023, accusing him of plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat, but Smith dropped that case and another after Trump won the 2024 election, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 前白宫助理Cassidy Hutchinson在众议院1月6日事件特别委员会听证会上作证（美国众议院特别委员会发布，公共领域）
