Federal grand jury declines to indict Cassidy Hutchinson

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson over her testimony to lawmakers about President Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Justice Department attorney Neville Hedley told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui that the grand jury had not concurred on the proposed charges, though he did not specify the defendant. People familiar with the situation told The Washington Post that Hedley, who identified himself as the acting senior litigation counsel, was referring to Hutchinson.

The Hill has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

The decision marks another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to pursue criminal charges against the president’s political adversaries.

Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s onetime White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, became a key witness in the House investigation into the Capitol attack. She testified in June 2022 about the president’s actions leading up to the riot.

She told lawmakers that Trump allegedly knew some of his supporters were armed when he encouraged them to march to the Capitol as Congress gathered to certify former President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Hutchinson also testified that she had been told Trump lunged toward a Secret Service agent and attempted to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle after learning he would not be taken to the Capitol.

The former aide acknowledged that she was not a witness to the incident herself, and her account was later disputed by Secret Service personnel.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly accused Hutchinson of lying to Congress during her testimony.

Earlier this year, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) referred Hutchinson to the DOJ for potential prosecution, alleging that she provided false testimony to the congressional committee.

In an unusual move, the investigation was handled by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.

Some federal prosecutors had privately expressed doubts about the strength of the case against Hutchinson and whether a conviction could be secured, The New York Times reported.

Grand juries rarely reject proposed indictments because prosecutors only need to convince a majority of jurors that a crime occurred, a substantially lower standard than the proof required for a conviction.