DoJ seeks criminal charges against Cassidy Hutchinson over January 6 testimony
US prosecutors are pursuing charges against ex-Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson for allegedly lying to Congress during the January 6 investigation.
Justice Department moves to indict January 6 key witness Cassidy Hutchinson
Prosecutors in the justice department's civil rights division are pursuing criminal charges against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former senior aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to a person familiar with the matter. theguardian.com reports that the potential charges centre on lying to Congress.
Hutchinson gained national prominence after delivering testimony to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Among her most striking claims was that Trump's deputy chief of staff for operations told her Trump did not want to return to the White House that day and that Trump at one point grabbed the steering wheel of his Secret Service SUV in an attempt to join his supporters at the Capitol. Republicans have consistently disputed that account.
The justice department's efforts to bring an indictment against Hutchinson were first reported by Punchbowl News on Thursday. A department spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the investigation. "The department does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations, or the lack thereof," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The New York Times reported in April that prosecutors from the civil rights division — which typically handles civil rights crimes rather than congressional investigations — had been assigned to examine Hutchinson, a move described at the time as highly unusual. Cases of this nature would ordinarily fall under the jurisdiction of the US attorney for the district of Columbia. Hutchinson herself acknowledged in filings in a separate, unrelated case that she was under investigation by the Department of Justice.
The pursuit of Hutchinson is among several cases in which the Trump administration has deployed the justice department against political opponents and critics. Last year, the department indicted former FBI director James Comey on charges of lying to Congress and New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud. Both indictments were subsequently dismissed after a federal judge ruled the prosecutor overseeing them had been unlawfully appointed. Prosecutors have since filed a new indictment against Comey, this time related to a photograph he posted of seashells arranged in a formation reading "8647."
The Trump justice department has also brought charges against the non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center and journalist Don Lemon.
Source: Google News MT