NEW: Cassidy Hutchinson Hit With Criminal Referral

Republicans on Capitol Hill have sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department asking prosecutors to consider charges against Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump White House aide who became one of the highest-profile witnesses for Democrats during the Jan. 6 investigation, according to two sources familiar with the move.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., made the referral in recent days, the sources said. He accused Hutchinson of lying to Congress during her 2022 testimony, including claims that President Donald Trump knew violence was possible on Jan. 6, 2021, and still pushed ahead anyway.

Loudermilk’s referral was co-signed by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who is overseeing the broader GOP review of the House Jan. 6 committee and its work.

The Justice Department did not respond to inquiries about the referral. Hutchinson’s current and former lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.

Criminal referrals from Congress are not rare, especially in politically charged cases. They do not automatically lead to charges and are often treated by DOJ as recommendations. But the referral puts Hutchinson back in the spotlight at a moment when Republicans are aggressively re-litigating the Jan. 6 narrative and scrutinizing the credibility of key witnesses elevated by Democrats.

Hutchinson, 29, served as a top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the final stretch of Trump’s first term. The House Jan. 6 committee portrayed her as a critical eyewitness to events leading up to the Capitol riot and to Trump’s reactions behind the scenes that day.

Her testimony drew major attention and immediate blowback from Republicans, especially after she recounted a dramatic secondhand story claiming Trump became enraged when Secret Service agents wouldn’t take him to the Capitol and lunged toward the front of his presidential vehicle in an attempt to steer it.

Hutchinson testified that Trump “grabbed the steering wheel” of a moving vehicle and attempted to turn around on January 6, a claim that has been disputed by numerous Secret Service agents

A Secret Service agent and a White House deputy named in her account later said they did not remember the incident.

Hutchinson also alleged that the first lawyer she worked with, Stefan Passantino, advised her that the less she recalled for House investigators, the better. Passantino has denied wrongdoing and said he acted ethically.

Before her blockbuster public testimony in June 2022, Hutchinson dropped Passantino and hired new counsel. After switching attorneys, she provided additional information to the committee in closed-door sessions and then in public.

Federal investigators during the Biden-era Justice Department also interviewed Hutchinson as part of their broader Jan. 6 probe into Trump and others. No charges were brought related to her claims, and the special counsel investigation later led by Jack Smith did not ultimately rely heavily on her testimony.

Smith told the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door interview three months ago that his team evaluated Hutchinson’s claims but viewed her as a limited trial witness because many of her accounts were secondhand and could be inadmissible as hearsay.

“The version of events that he (the other witness) explained was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand,” Smith said.

Smith also described conflicts in accounts about other details, including whether Hutchinson wrote a particular note in the White House and how to interpret her claims about Trump and security screening at the Jan. 6 rally.

Republicans have continued to argue Hutchinson’s testimony was oversold by Democrats and media allies and that key parts of her narrative do not match what other witnesses told investigators. The referral signals the GOP is now trying to push that argument beyond politics and into potential criminal exposure.

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