The Department of Justice has opened a probe into a glamorous former White House aide who turned on President Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot. Cassidy Hutchinson, 29, who implicated Trump with her testimony before congressional January 6 investigators, is the subject of a DOJ investigation, four sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times . Ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi opened the investigation just weeks before Trump fired her, in a bid to ‘placate’ the President’s desire to prosecute his enemies, the report states.
Dismissal of Bondi and Political Pressures
Bondi was dismissed last week partly because she failed to secure convictions against the President’s political foes – and the probe into the former White House aide was launched as she scrambled to shore up his support. The investigation is being led by the DOJ’s civil rights division, headed by Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon – a department that typically focuses on race, sex, age, religion and other forms of illegal discrimination. Congressman Barry Loudermilk, who chairs House Republicans’ January 6 Committee, sent the DOJ a criminal referral last month urging it to investigate Hutchinson.
Allegations Against Hutchinson of Misleading Congress
He has accused her – a former aide to Trump’s first-term White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows – of lying to Congress during her summer 2022 testimony. She alleged Trump knew of the potential violence January 6 protesters could unleash, yet urged them on to the Capitol regardless. The 29-year-old also claimed she heard secondhand that Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent after his presidential limo was driven away from the Capitol against his wishes – and that he ‘reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel.’ In her official testimony, she added that when the agent rebuffed him, Trump lunged at the agent himself.
The President and many Republicans have denied the incident. Both sources Hutchinson cited as the origin of the story have since said they have no recollection of the events she described. Todd Blanche, who served as Bondi’s deputy and has since been appointed Attorney General, has signalled willingness to press ahead with probes into Trump’s rivals.
Speaking at a DOJ press conference on Tuesday, he said the President had ‘the right’ and ‘the duty’ to call for investigations into those who have broken the law. The DOJ did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. The Daily Mail has requested comment from representatives for Hutchinson.
