A federal grand jury declined Tuesday to indict Cassidy Hutchinson — the former White House aide turned star witness against President Donald Trump — on criminal charges, a senior U.S. official confirmed to NBC News.
Prosecutors were trying to charge Hutchinson for statements she made about Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021.
The Washington grand jury rejected the bill “no,” meaning it rejected the Justice Department’s efforts to indict Hutchinson. His name was not mentioned in the courtroom when the bill was announced, but the senior U.S. official confirmed it was Hutchinson’s case.
Hutchinson’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the Justice Department.
The Justice Department’s investigation had centered on Hutchinson’s 2022 testimony before the now-defunct Democratic-led Jan. 6 Congressional Committee, which Trump railed against for years.
The failure to obtain an indictment is the latest in a series of such denials in cases brought by the Justice Department against those Trump has portrayed as his political enemies.
Hutchinson’s case was brought by officials in the Civil Rights Division, led by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon. The division has traditionally sought to protect constitutional liberties by upholding federal civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.
The grand jury’s refusal to indict Hutchinson does not prevent the DOJ from attempting to indict him again in the future.
Trump called Hutchinson a “crook” who lied under oath and suggested she be prosecuted.
“What is the Department of Justice going to do about this?” he wrote in a 2022 article on Truth Social. In March, he posted a link to a Breitbart article about House Republicans referring her to the Justice Department for prosecution.
Hutchinson, who had been a top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, made several damaging statements to the committee about Trump’s behavior in the days leading up to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and during the riot itself.
Among the incidents she testified about, the president urged that metal detectors be removed from the area near the White House where he spoke on January 6. She quoted him as saying that the rally attendees “are not here to hurt me” and “I don’t care if they have guns.”
Hutchinson also testified that the president was determined to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and that a Secret Service official told him that Trump grabbed the steering wheel of the presidential limousine — and the throat of one of his bodyguards — when he refused to take him to the Capitol.
Secret service officials later denied this version. Hutchinson maintained that she provided truthful testimony.
A grand jury heard testimony against Hutchinson in early October, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News this month.
The Justice Department has conducted investigations and, in some cases, obtained indictments against Trump’s alleged political enemies. Those who have been investigated or indicted include Sen. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California; former CIA Director John Brennan; New York Attorney General Letitia James; and former FBI Director James Comey. Trump has accused all four of criminal wrongdoing, which they have denied.
After an initial complaint against James was dismissed on technical grounds, the Justice Department attempted to obtain an indictment against her three times, but all were rejected.
The Trump administration also tried, unsuccessfully, to charge six sitting Democratic members of Congress over a social media video that Trump disliked that told members of the military and intelligence agencies not to obey illegal orders.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News in April that the failed prosecution demonstrated “that we are working hard.”
“It could be that the grand jury just made the wrong decision,” he said then, referring largely to the failed indictments. “Grand jurors don’t get everything right, just like no one gets it right all the time. So for some of them it’s a difficult case, and for some of them we’re still investigating.”
The rise in denials led Washington’s chief federal judge to issue a new policy this year requiring the Justice Department to notify the serving magistrate judge when a federal grand jury rejects the department’s attempt to indict an individual.
The failure to present the Hutchinson case comes as Trump continues to attempt to rewrite the narrative of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol during the certification of the presidential vote.
He pardoned rioters — including those convicted of attacking law enforcement officers — on the first day of his second term, and reached a deal with the Justice Department this year to launch a $1.8 billion “anti-arms fund” that could provide government compensation to those involved in the attack.
The proposed fund, which was part of the settlement of an unrelated Trump lawsuit against the IRS, was later scuttled.
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