Federal prosecutors have been weighing a perjury and obstruction-of-justice case against Cassidy Hutchinson, who implicated President Donald Trump in the January 6 Capitol riot in testimony four years ago, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The efforts mark the Justice Department’s intent to proceed against Hutchinson, a former aide to ex-Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, though prosecutors are not expected to ask a federal grand jury in Washington to return an indictment until at least after the midterm elections, the sources say.
Hutchinson testified as a star witness to the committee that investigated the riot, recounting that Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol even though he knew many were armed. She sat for several interviews in addition to her public testimony, where she recalled hearing that Trump had lunged at one of his Secret Service agents after being told he could not join his supporters at the Capitol.
In recent months, prosecutors at the Justice Department have focused on the fact that the former special counsel, Jack Smith, did not corroborate much of Hutchinson’s account to the committee, and the Secret Service’s denial of any altercation in the presidential limo, the sources say.
By comparing the transcripts of Hutchinson’s interviews with the committee and against her testimony to Smith’s team, prosecutors have been trying to construct a case based on how her testimony has changed, the sources say.
Prosecutors have also taken a special interest in Hutchinson’s claim that she had penned a statement on a notecard for Trump to release during the Capitol riot—a claim disputed by former Trump White House counsel Eric Herschmann, who said he had written the note.
It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors intend to ultimately proceed with both perjury and obstruction charges, which have been under consideration for several months. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Hutchinson and her lawyer did not respond to texts and calls seeking comment. Hutchinson, now 29, has kept a low profile since publishing a memoir of her time in Trump’s first administration in 2023 titled Enough.
Punchbowl News first reported the Justice Department’s interest in charging Hutchinson.
The grand jury investigation is the latest example of the Justice Department pursuing criminal cases against Trump’s perceived political enemies. Trump fired former US attorney general Pam Bondi in April partly for moving too slowly to bring such cases, sources familiar with the matter said.