A federal grand jury declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday.
Hutchinson famously testified before Congress as a witness, claiming President Donald Trump was responsible for the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The Justice Department investigated whether she gave false testimony to the congressional panel.
Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s onetime White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, became a key witness in the House investigation into the Capitol attack. She testified in June 2022 about the president’s actions leading up to the riot.
She told lawmakers that Trump allegedly knew some of his supporters were armed when he encouraged them to march to the Capitol as Congress gathered to certify former President Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Hutchinson also testified that she had been told Trump lunged toward a Secret Service agent and attempted to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle after learning he would not be taken to the Capitol.
The former aide acknowledged that she was not a witness to the incident herself, and her account was later disputed by Secret Service personnel.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly accused Hutchinson of lying to Congress during her testimony.
Earlier this year, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) referred Hutchinson to the DOJ for potential prosecution, alleging that she provided false testimony to the congressional committee.
🚨JUST IN🚨 A federal grand jury in DC has DECLINED to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for lying in her 2022 congressional testimony about President Donald Trump. SOURCE: WAPO https://t.co/fXNgaowg72
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) October 27, 2026
DOJ attorney Neville Hedley told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui that the grand jury had not agreed on the proposed charges without naming a defendant, and people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post that Hedley was referring to Hutchinson. The case was presented by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, an unusual home for a false statements case, according to the Washington Examiner.
BREAKING WaPo: A federal grand jury just REJECTED an attempt by the Trump Justice Department to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. https://t.co/nvP1IDbruJ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 27, 2026
Hutchinson has claimed that she gave truthful testimony before Congress. Some federal prosecutors privately expressed doubts about the strength of the case. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) called the investigation an act of “lawfare.”
Hutchinson was a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. She claimed Trump knew some of his supporters at the Capitol were armed when he encouraged them to march in protest of the 2020 presidential election results. However, she did not provide any evidence backing up this claim.
