Trump allies ‘urged aide Cassidy Hutchinson to limit testimony’

Former White House aide says she was pressured by Donald Trump allies to limit her testimony to the Jan 6 committee, including about his attempts to get to the Capitol as riots escalated.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, is sworn in during the January 6 hearings. Picture: AFP

The January 6 select committee released a transcript of oral testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson pointing to efforts by lawyers and others in former President Donald Trump’s orbit to urge her to protect Mr Trump in her testimony before the committee.

Ms Hutchinson, an aide to Mr Trump’s last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had dismissed her first lawyer, Stefan Passantino, by the time she provided some of the most dramatic live testimony before the committee in June, when she said she was told that Mr Trump wanted to be driven to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and wrestled for the steering wheel with the Secret Service when his order was refused.

In testimony given in September and released by the committee on Thursday (Friday AEDT), Ms Hutchinson recounted what she viewed as a wide-ranging campaign by individuals close to Mr Trump to pressure her to provide misleading testimony to the January 6 committee.

“There were people in Trump world who were a little more worried about me being more forthcoming with the committee because of the access and insight that I had into what was happening throughout these months,” she testified.

Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington. Picture: AFP.

The 138-page transcript of Ms Hutchinson’s September 14 testimony was released in advance of the committee’s final report, which was expected to be made public on Wednesday but has been delayed.

After receiving a subpoena to testify before the committee, Ms Hutchinson said she reached out to former colleagues in the Trump White House and others connected to the former president for assistance in obtaining an lawyer. She said she didn’t have the funds to pay for an lawyer at the time and was instructed to reach out to a number of attorneys with ties to Mr Trump who might represent her without requiring a fee.

Ms Hutchinson said she first met Mr Passantino in early 2022. “We have you taken care of,” he told her by phone on February 7, according to Ms Hutchinson, adding that he didn’t want her to sign an official engagement letter.

“That was the first alarm bell that went off in my head,” she told the committee.

She said she asked Mr Passantino who was paying him. “We’re not telling people where funding is coming from right now,” he replied, according to Ms Hutchinson.

At a meeting on February 16, according to Ms Hutchinson’s testimony, Mr Passantino said he would “downplay” her role in the White House to the committee. “You were a secretary. You had an administrative role,” she said he told her. “Everyone’s on the same page about this.”

Donald Trump addresses his supporters during the January 6 riots. Picture: AFP

She testified that she became worried that Mr Passantino was being paid by individuals connected to Mr Trump and told the committee she worried that when a person becomes involved with Mr Trump’s orbit financially, “there sort of is no turning back.” Ms Hutchinson testified that in a conversation with Mr Passantino, she revealed that she knew about a confrontation in the presidential limousine after Mr Trump’s January 6 speech and expressed concern that the committee might raise questions about the event.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Mr Passantino replied, according to Ms Hutchinson. “We don’t want to go there. The less the committee thinks you know, the better.” In a statement, Mr Passantino said: “I represented Ms Hutchinson honourably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me. I believed Ms Hutchinson was being truthful and cooperative with the Committee throughout the several interview sessions in which I represented her.” He added that it wasn’t uncommon “for clients to change lawyers” or “for a third party, including a political committee, to cover a client’s fees at the client’s request,” and that he had taken leave from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich.

Donald Trump with members of the Secret Service. Picture: AFP

Ms Hutchinson testified that Mr Passantino never told her to lie and said telling the committee “I don’t recall” wasn’t perjury. “The less you remember, the better,” Mr Passantino told her, according to Ms Hutchinson.

“We just want to focus on protecting the president,” Mr Passantino later told her in a meeting the day of her February 23 deposition with the committee, according to Ms Hutchinson. “We all know you’re loyal.” She said Mr Passantino brought up job opportunities, which he said they would discuss after the deposition.

Ms Hutchinson testified that during the first interview, “I almost felt like at points Donald Trump was looking over my shoulder.” During the interview, the committee asked Ms Hutchinson about events inside the presidential limo on January 6. She told the committee that she couldn’t recall what happened. During a break, she testified, she told Mr Passantino, “Stefan … I just lied.” “They don’t know what you know Cassidy,” he told her, according to Ms Hutchinson.

Mr Trump displayed on a screen during the final US House Select Committee hearing into the January 6 riots. Picture: AFP

The committee later asked for another interview in March. The evening before the interview, she said she had an exchange with Ben Williamson, a former aide to Mr Meadows. According to Ms Hutchinson, Mr Williamson told her that Mr Meadows “wants me to let you know that he knows you’re loyal and he knows you’ll do the right thing tomorrow and that you’re going to protect him and the boss.” Ms Hutchinson told the committee she had a mental breakdown after parts of her testimony emerged in a committee brief, because she felt she had provided misleading testimony.

“I was kind of disgusted with myself,” she said. She said she later confided with an unnamed Republican member of congress, who told her: “You’re the one that has to live with the mirror test for the rest of your life.” Ms Hutchinson, through a backchannel to the committee, said she arranged for a third interview during which she planned to tell the full truth. She said Mr Passantino, who accompanied her to the interview, was shocked about how much the committee knew about events at the White House.

After deciding that Mr Passantino had provided bad legal advice, she said she sent him an email on June 9 terminating their lawyer-client relationship.

Dow Jones