Cassidy Hutchinson | |
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.png) Hutchinson in 2022 | |
| Born | Cassidy Jacqueline Hutchinson (1996-12-12)December 12, 1996 (age 28) Pennington, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | Christopher Newport University (BA) |
| Notable work | Enough (2023) |
Cassidy Jacqueline Hutchinson[1] (born 1996)[2][3] is a formerWhite House aide who served as assistant toChief of StaffMark Meadows during thefirst Trump administration.[4][5]
Hutchinson testified[6] at theJune 28, 2022, public hearings of theUnited States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack[7][8] about PresidentDonald Trump's conduct and that of his senior aides and political allies before and during theJanuary 6 United States Capitol Protest. Hutchinson's testimony received significant national attention, with several media outlets calling it "compelling" and "explosive",[9][10] despite criticism from Trump allies.
Hutchinson's memoir,Enough, was published in 2023.
Raised inPennington, New Jersey,[11] Hutchinson graduated fromHopewell Valley Central High School in 2015.[1] She studied atChristopher Newport University from 2015 to 2018,[12] graduating in 2019 with aBachelor of Arts degree inpolitical science andAmerican studies.[13][14] Hutchinson describes herself as a "first-generation college student".[12][15]
While attending Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson interned for U.S. SenatorTed Cruz in the summer of 2016[16] and forHousewhipSteve Scalise in the summer of 2017.[15][17][18][19] In the summer of 2018, she served as an intern in theWhite House Office of Legislative Affairs.[15] Later, she became an employee of the office.
In March 2020, when Mark Meadows became Trump's fourth chief of staff, he selected her as one of his aides. She soon became Meadows's principal assistant, continuing to the end of Trump's first term. Her title was Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Legislative Affairs.[20] She worked in an office next to Meadows's office, just down the hall from theOval Office. She took notes at meetings and traveled with Meadows, monitoring his phone, and relaying his orders.[21] She was described as a close confidante of Meadows.[5] Identified as a "White Houselegislative aide", Hutchinson was the subject of a nationally syndicatedAP photograph in which she was shown dancing to theVillage People song "Y.M.C.A." alongside White House press secretaryKayleigh McEnany at the end of Trump's September 21, 2020, campaign rally inSwanton, Ohio.[22]
In her 2023 memoirEnough, Hutchinson alleges thatRudy Giulianigroped her backstage during Trump's speech on January 6, 2021.[23] She also wrote that then-CongressmanMatt Gaetz made "repeated passes" at her and asked her to "escort" him to his room atCamp David in 2020.[24][25] In 2024, House SpeakerMike Johnson's staff advised RepresentativeBarry Loudermilk against subpoenaing Hutchinson's texts, due to the risk of public exposure of "sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors" with Hutchinson.[26]
As Trump's term ended, he said that Hutchinson was supposed to work for his post-presidency operation in Florida, but the plan was "abruptly dropped" before she was supposed to begin.[5][27]
Undersubpoena, Hutchinson gave four depositions to the committee, totaling more than two dozen hours, testifying on live television on June 28, 2022.[21] Before her March 7 deposition, she received multiple messages from Trump allies suggesting she show loyalty to Trump in her testimony.[28][29][30] Days before her testimony, she dismissed her attorney,Stefan Passantino, who had deep connections with Trump associates, replacing him withJody Hunt, a former longtime Justice Department official and chief of staff for Trump's first attorney general,Jeff Sessions.[31][16]
Hutchinson testified that she overheard mention ofOath Keepers andProud Boys during the planning of the Save America March, when Trump's personal attorneyRudy Giuliani was present.[32][33] Several leaders of both groups were later indicted onseditious conspiracy charges for their alleged roles in theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack.
Hutchinson testified that both Meadows and Giuliani soughtpresidential pardons.[34] She previously told the committee in depositions that congressmenMatt Gaetz,Andy Biggs,Scott Perry, andLouie Gohmert had also requested pardons.[35]
She testified that on January 3, 2021, White House counselPat Cipollone pulled her aside to express his concern upon hearing Trump planned to march to the Capitol with his supporters on January 6; Hutchinson recalled him saying, "We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen."[36]
Hutchinson also testified that Trump threw his lunch plate against a wall in a White House dining room on December 1, 2020, when he learned that Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr had made a public statement that he had not discovered anyevidence of election fraud.[37] The wall was splashed with ketchup.[37] On other occasions, he had "flip[ped] the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere".[37]
Hutchinson testified that Trump and Meadows were told some people were carrying weapons, including firearms, and therefore could not clearmagnetometers to enter the rally. Trump insisted that he didn't care if his supporters had weapons and tried to order the magnetometers removed, saying, "They're not here to hurt me."[38]
Hutchinson testified she was told by then-White House deputy chief of staffTony Ornato that when Trump got into the presidentialSUV after his rally, hoping to drive to the Capitol as his supporters marched there, his leadSecret Service agent Robert Engel told him it was too dangerous and that they were returning to the White House. Hutchinson said Ornato told her Trump became irate, attempted to grab the steering wheel, and lunged at Engel'sclavicle.[34] She testified Engel was present with Ornato as he related the incident and did not contradict the account.[39]CNN reported three days after Hutchinson's testimony that it had spoken with twoSecret Service agents who had heard accounts of the incident from multiple other agents since February 2021, including Trump's driver. Although details differed, agents confirmed there was an angry confrontation, with one agent saying that Trump "tried to lunge over the seat—for what reason, nobody had any idea", but no one said Trump attacked Engel. Another Secret Service official told CNN that Engel denied that Trump grabbed at the steering wheel or lunged toward an agent on his detail, and that Ornato denied telling Hutchinson such.[40]Politico reported the same day that Engel told the committee during an early 2022 deposition that he had kept his full account of the incident from his Secret Service colleagues for at least 14 months.[41] On July 14, 2022, CNN published an account about the corroboration by aMetropolitan Police officer in the motorcade of the "heated exchange" Trump had with his Secret Service detail when they refused to take him to the Capitol after hisrally on January 6.[42] In March 2024, details of Hutchinson's relaying of Ornato's account were contradicted by the release of testimony from the driver of the vehicle. The unnamed driver testified that Trump did not reach for, lunge at, or grab the steering wheel, and that Trump did not scream or seem irate. The driver did corroborate that Trump sought to go the Capitol and had "irritation" in his voice.[43][44]
As the events of the day unfolded, Hutchinson recalled Cipollone telling Meadows words to the effect of "'Mark, we need to do something more.[34] They're literally calling for the vice president to be f'ing hung.' And Mark had responded something to the effect of 'you heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong', to which Pat said something, 'this is f'ing crazy, we need to be doing something more.'"[45]
An interview transcript released on December 22, 2022, revealed that Hutchinson gave additional testimony on September 14 and 15, 2022.[46][47] During this testimony, she said Trump allies had pressured her not to talk to the committee.[48][49] She also said that with former White House aideAlyssa Farah Griffin acting as her backchannel, she was able to conduct the interview without Passantino's knowledge, and that Passantino wanted her to evade the committee's questions. Hutchinson testified that Passantino told her, "We just want to focus on protecting the president" and "We all know you're loyal", and that he would help her get "a really good job in Trump world" because "We want to keep you in the family". She also testified Meadows told her Trump knew he had lost the election.[48][49][50]
She was 22 years old, a rising college senior who went to work as a summer intern in the Trump White House in 2018.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
guard-20-sep2023 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and "leaker"), and when she requested to go with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office, I personally turned her request down. Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that she was very upset and angry that I didn't want her to go, or be a member of the team. She is bad news!
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