Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has acknowledged that she is the subject of a Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal investigation, according to a new federal court filing. The revelation came in a September 24 court order that detailed Hutchinson’s opposition to a subpoena from the BBC, which sought to question her under oath as part of President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster. The order noted that Hutchinson said that the DOJ is investigating her and that she will invoke her Fifth Amendment right if she is compelled to testify in this case.
Newsweek contacted Hutchinson’s attorney via email on Tuesday for comment. The court filing does not specify what the DOJ investigation into Hutchinson concerns. However, the New York Times reported in April that the department was investigating Hutchinson following her testimony before Congress about Trump’s knowledge of and actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S.
The Times reported at the time that the investigation began after a Trump ally in Congress accused Hutchinson of lying during her testimony. Hutchinson’s testimony drew fierce criticism from Trump and his allies. Hutchinson, who worked as an aide to Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, during the president’s first term, gave high-profile testimony to the House January 6 committee in June 2022.
Her detailed testimony included an account of Trump appearing unconcerned after being told that some of his supporters were armed, saying they were “not here to hurt me.” Hutchinson also recounted an incident in which an “irate” Trump attempted to grab his limousine’s steering wheel after his Secret Service detail refused to take him to the Capitol. That account was later disputed in testimony from Trump’s driver. The investigation into Hutchinson comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to pursue perceived political adversaries through the DOJ, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz quashed the BBC’s subpoena seeking Hutchinson’s deposition in the September 24 order, referring to her as “presently the subject of a criminal investigation” by the DOJ. The judge cited the DOJ investigation as one of Hutchinson's “reasons to avoid the deposition,” in addition to the fact that she had already given more than 30 hours of sworn testimony to Congress. Her attorneys had also opposed the subpoena on the basis that the broadcaster was attempting to go beyond the narrow issues at the heart of Trump’s defamation lawsuit, an argument previously made by Trump’s attorneys in the case.
Kuntz agreed, saying that the BBC should not “turn the discovery in this lawsuit into a fishing expedition.” He said Hutchinson’s existing testimony was available and “seems largely irrelevant to the narrow issue in this lawsuit,” which concerns the BBC documentary’s editing of two statements Trump made more than 55 minutes apart. The BBC argued that Hutchinson’s testimony could shed light on Trump’s mindset and that of his closest advisers on January 6, as it defends itself against Trump’s claim that the documentary falsely portrayed him as encouraging the Capitol riot. The judge nevertheless left open the possibility that the BBC could seek to subpoena Hutchinson again if circumstances change.
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