Cassidy Hutchinson Said Trump Allies Pressured Her Not To Testify, Transcripts Show

Topline

Cassidy Hutchinson—a former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—told the House January 6 committee one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys pressured her to withhold information from lawmakers, according to a transcript of her testimony released Thursday, ahead of a full report that will lay out the findings of the committee’s 18-month-long investigation into the 2021 Capitol riots.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 19: The January 6th Committee reviews footage from past hearings as it … [+] meets for its final session at the Cannon House Office Building on Monday afternoon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 2022. The Jan. 6 committee conducted a business meeting and was expected to vote on referring criminal charges against former president Trump to the Justice Department for the first time in American history and releasing part of a report revealing 18 months of investigative work. (Photo by Matt McClain for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Key Facts

Hutchinson, whose public testimony in June detailed Trump’s anger surrounding his presidential election loss, told the committee that Trump-aligned attorney Stefan Passantino at one point told her to stop speaking to the committee even if it risked being held in contempt, which he said was a “better” option for her than being disloyal to Trump.

Hutchinson noted that she felt she had no choice but to take legal help from Trump’s attorneys, and said Passantino and other Trump allies floated job offers to her as her depositions neared and told her she would be “taken care of,” according to transcripts of her testimony that were released this week along with those of 33 other witnesses.

Among the other findings from the transcripts: Testimony from Publix heiress Julie Fancelli revealed she was willing to give as much as $3 million to people and groups involved in protests hours before the January 6 riots.

The report will detail how Trump was the primary catalyst of the January 6 insurrection, along with his and his allies’ efforts to craft a fake electors scheme and pressure state officials to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The report is expected to span 1,000 pages, with eight chapters detailing the contents of more than 1,000 interviews the committee conducted, Politico reported.

The committee, in a summary of the report released on Monday, alleged Trump “purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud” that led his supporters to storm the Capitol, despite testimony from many in his inner circle who said they openly disagreed with Trump’s claims.

One unknown about the report is whether it will outline the failures of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to prevent the attacks at the Capitol, despite having “substantial evidence” that violence may occur, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, (D-Fla.), said Monday.

Crucial Quote

“‘I am completely indebted to these people, and I was like, ‘And they will ruin my life, Mom, if I do anything they don’t want me to do,’” Hutchison told the committee, recalling a conversation she said she had with her mother about the pressure campaign from Trump’s associates.

Key Background

The nine-member January 6 panel voted Monday to refer Trump to the Justice Department on four criminal charges: obstruction of an official government proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, making false or misleading statements to the U.S. government and inciting or assisting in an insurrection. The panel also referred former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump attorneys John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Chesebro and Jeffrey Clark to the department.

Tangent

The committee unveiled several new revelations during its Monday meeting and in its summary report, including details from testimonies by former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. Hicks, in new video footage presented by the committee, said Trump told her “the only thing that matters is winning” when she raised concerns that pushing fraud claims could damage his legacy. In its report, the committee raised questions about the legitimacy of several witness testimonies. Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was “evasive” and appeared to read from pre-prepared statements, the committee wrote. Ivanka Trump denied attending her father’s January 6 speech in an effort to calm him down, contradicting testimony from another aide who said Ivanka told her she was uncomfortable with her father’s rhetoric that day. In another example, former Secret Service assistant director Tony Ornato allegedly told the committee he wasn’t aware of Trump’s desire to go to the Capitol on January 6, even though other aides testified that Ornato told them that day Trump was irate that his security team would not allow him to go.

Contra

The GOP “shadow committee” established to contest the House panel’s January 6 probe released its own counter report on Wednesday detailing law enforcement failures they said contributed to the violence at the Capitol. The report blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for deprioritizing threats of violence at the Capitol and instead directing the House Sergeant at Arms to focus on other events that day, such as the swearing-in of new Congress members. It seldom mentioned Trump, except to highlight a tweet by the former president urging peaceful protests. The report omitted other statements from Trump that suggested violence, including telling his supporters during a speech that day to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”

What To Watch For

Whether the DOJ will pursue charges against Trump or his allies. The criminal referrals made by the committee are not legally binding and it’s up to the Justice Department to decide whether to formally charge Trump. The January 6 Committee recently began cooperating with the Justice Department in its ongoing probe of the Capitol riot as its own investigation has winded down, Punchbowl reported Tuesday. The committee previously declined to participate in the Justice Department’s investigation, but recently began sending transcripts and other documents to the agency, including thousands of text messages from Meadows’ cellphone, many of which showed him discussing efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 presidential election with Trump’s allies.