Federal prosecutors are presenting evidence to a D.C. grand jury on whether Cassidy Hutchinson lied to Congress about Jan. 6, putting her high-profile testimony under fresh legal scrutiny.
Federal prosecutors have been laying out evidence before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., on whether the former White House aide may have lied in her testimony about the Capitol attack, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The Justice Department inquiry focuses on Hutchinson’s 2022 appearances before the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. No charges have been announced.
Punchbowl News first flagged the recent flurry of grand jury activity. The Civil Rights Division is handling the matter rather than the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., an unusual assignment whose reason is not immediately clear.
Media reports have said Republican allies in the House made the referral that sent the issue to the Justice Department.
Hutchinson served as an aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. In depositions and public testimony, she described warnings she said reached President Trump and Meadows on Jan. 6 that some supporters were carrying weapons toward the Capitol.
She said Trump replied that he did not care and tried to have officials remove the magnetometers. She also recounted a speech Trump gave at the White House Ellipse, where he encouraged supporters to go to the Capitol as Congress met to confirm the Electoral College results.
Trump told the crowd, “after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you.”
"after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you."
That line became part of the broader fight over what the former president intended that day.
One of Hutchinson’s most vivid claims came secondhand. She said then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato told her that Trump grew incensed when his lead Secret Service agent refused to drive him to the Capitol, and that Trump lunged at the steering wheel.
Mr. Trump’s driver later gave sworn testimony that the president never tried to grab the wheel. That clash left a clear gap between Hutchinson’s relayed story and another witness under oath.
CBS News could not determine exactly which portions of her testimony prosecutors are now weighing. Hutchinson’s counsel was contacted for comment; no response appears in the reporting.
Presenting evidence to a grand jury is a serious step. It is not the same as an indictment. Prosecutors are testing whether her statements to Congress crossed into false testimony.
The Capitol attack remains raw for many Americans. Hutchinson’s public sessions gave Democrats a dramatic narrative that placed Trump as reckless and physically aggressive in the final hours before the riot. The driver’s sworn account undercut the most theatrical piece of that story.
House Republicans pushed the matter to the Justice Department after taking power. The Civil Rights Division’s lead role keeps the case outside the local U.S. attorney’s office that has handled many other Jan. 6 prosecutions.
For now, the public record shows activity, not a charging decision. The grand jury has heard evidence. The open questions remain which statements are under the microscope and whether any count will ever be returned.
Witnesses who deliver prime-time testimony do not get a permanent free pass when later evidence cuts the other way. If lying to Congress is a crime, it cannot apply only to the politically convenient targets.
