The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide whose congressional testimony implicated President Trump in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who heads the House GOP’s Jan. 6 committee, made a criminal referral to the DOJ about Ms. Hutchinson in March, CNN reported. He accused her of lying to Congress when she testified in 2022 that Trump was aware that his supporters who stormed the Capitol were likely to commit violence and continued his inflammatory rhetoric.
She also said she was told that Mr. Trump lunged at one of his Secret Service agents in a presidential limo when he was told he could not be with his supporters on Capitol Hill. Later testimony contradicted her account of events.
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. Bondi reportedly sought to put herself in better standing with the president by aggressively targeting Ms. Hutchinson and other foes of Mr. Trump in a snowball effort to reprimand his political adversaries.
Ultimately, she was fired by Mr. Trump, who allegedly was unsatisfied that she didn’t do enough to prosecute Democrats who had tried to punish him for years. He then tapped Todd Blanche, former deputy attorney general, as the acting head of the Justice Department.
Mr. Blanche said at a Tuesday news conference that Mr. Trump had the presidential “right” and the “duty” to call for investigations into whomever he believes deserves them.
The Justice Department reportedly directed its Civil Rights Division, which typically focuses on law enforcement misconduct and racial discrimination, to take on the Hutchinson case.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon will reportedly spearhead the investigation.
