DOJ probes Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson for perjury

The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who became a star witness in congressional Democrats’ probe into President Trump and the mob intrusion into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Republicans had been pushing for the probe, saying Ms. Hutchinson’s version of events that day — including claims that Mr. Trump tried to grab the wheel and force his Secret Service agents to take him to the Capitol — was belied by the testimony of the agents themselves.

Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who heads the House GOP’s own subcommittee probing Jan. 6, referred Ms. Hutchinson to the Justice Department for a perjury probe earlier this year.

While some Justice Department officials expressed skepticism that a viable criminal case could be made against Ms. Hutchinson, the inquiry was opened in recent weeks under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, The New York Times reported.

Ms. Hutchinson was the centerpiece of Democrats’ prime-time hearing in 2022 examining the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob stormed into the Capitol, disrupting the Electoral College vote count that determined President Biden won the 2020 election.

She had been an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and said she had access to those who had the president’s ear.

She said the White House had known about the potential for violence to erupt, and she said Mr. Trump knew some of those who showed up for his rally on the Ellipse that day were armed, because they were being turned away from the rally by Secret Service officers manning magnetometers.

“I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me,” Ms Hutchinson said, recalling what she said were the president’s words. “Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.”

Ms. Hutchinson’s most explosive testimony was that Mr. Trump tried to go to the Capitol with his supporters that day, and was furious to have been derailed. She wasn’t present in the SUV but said she was told by a White House official that the president grabbed for the steering wheel and even grabbed an agent’s throat.

But the man she said told her that story, Anthony Ornato, denied that version of events, as did Bobby Engel, the head of Mr. Trump’s security detail that day.

Special Counsel Jack Smith told Congress earlier this year that his investigation tried to substantiate Ms. Hutchinson’s claims but she only had distant knowledge of the incident. He also said his investigation spoke to a witness who disputed her version of events.

“My recollection of her testimony about that was that it was second-hand,” he told the House Judiciary Committee in January.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan called Ms. Hutchinson “someone that the whole country knows wasn’t telling the truth.

The New York Times reported that the probe into Ms. Hutchinson is being handled by the Civil Rights Division, which the paper said was unusual for a branch that usually focuses on voting rights and racial discrimination. That puts it under the purview of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.

The paper said the decision to push forward with the investigation was an attempt by Ms. Bondi to shore up her support from Mr. Trump.

The president fired Ms. Bondi last week. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is now serving as acting head of the department.

In his first news conference, Mr. Blanche defended Mr. Trump’s call for the Justice Department to pursue certain investigations, including those of some of his political opponents.

“That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that, meaning to lead this country,” Mr. Blanche said.