WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into ex-Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for allegedly lying to Congress in testimony about the 45th president’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, The Post has learned.
A federal grand jury was empaneled earlier this week to hear evidence and witness testimony about Hutchinson’s alleged false statements to lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said.
The investigation, under the auspices of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, was first reported by Punchbowl News, which also claimed Hutchinson has not yet received a subpoena to appear.
It’s unclear what testimony is under scrutiny. Hutchinson, 29, served as a “star” witness for the House Select January 6th Committee that probed President Trump and his allies for actions leading up to the Capitol riot.
That investigation later fed into special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump in 2023 and 2024 for making knowingly false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Smith testified to a House panel last December that Hutchinson only provided “secondhand hearsay” and wouldn’t have been a reliable witness for his purposes.
Hutchinson had previously testified in a made-for-TV hearing in June 2022 that Trump had screamed, “Take me up to the Capitol now!” and lunged at the wheel of his Secret Service-driven SUV, known as “the Beast,” on Jan. 6, 2021.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Anthony Ornato claimed Hutchinson’s account was false and she revealed that he had relayed the incident’s occurrence to her.
The agent and the driver of the vehicle also separately refuted Hutchinson’s testimony as well.
Trump’s driver in a transcribed interview with committee members said the president “never grabbed the steering wheel” or “lunge[d] to try to get into the front seat at all.”
Smith also cast doubt on Hutchinson’s claims that Trump wanted his supporters to be able to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse without going through magnetometers — even if they were armed.
Additionally, Hutchinson testified on June 28, 2022, before the House select committee that she had to clean up a ketchup-stained wall after Trump hurled his plate against it in a fit of rage over then-Attorney General Bill Barr’s denial that there was fraud that affected the 2020 election’s outcome.
Trump almost immediately denied the story after the hearing, saying: “Her story of me throwing food is also false … and why would SHE have to clean it up, I hardly knew who she was?”
The Post reached out to Hutchinson for comment. Reps for the DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
