A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected the Justice Department’s request to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in connection with Congressional testimony about President Donald Trump’s conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
MS NOW confirmed the report and said prosecutors at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are seeking to indict Hutchinson on charges based on allegations that he made false statements, citing two people familiar with the case.
Neville Hadley, a senior attorney at the Justice Department, told Judge Zia Faruqui in open court Tuesday afternoon that the grand jury rejected the indictment without targeting Hutchinson, according to the Post.
It is highly unusual for a grand jury to refuse to indict someone when prosecutors present evidence of a crime.
However, federal prosecutors in Washington were unable to secure a grand jury indictment, which President Trump has repeatedly sought since he took office in January 2025.
Hutchinson testified in June 2022 before a House special committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, which delayed the certification of former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election by several hours.
She said that after Trump spoke at a rally outside the White House prior to the attack, then-White House official Tony Ornato asked her, “Did you hear what happened in the Beast?”
She testified that Ornato told her that when Trump got into his car, he had been led to believe by then-chief of staff Mark Meadows that he was going to the Capitol, as he claimed in an address to supporters at the rally.
Hutchinson said that when Trump’s national security chief, Robert Engle, said the president could not go there because the area was unsafe, Trump “had a very strong, very angry reaction to that,” Ornat testified.
“Tony described Trump as furious,” Hutchinson said, noting that Trump said things like:
When Mr. Engel again refused to give him a ride to the Capitol, Mr. Trump “reached to the front of the car to grab the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, take your hands off the steering wheel. I’m going back to the West Wing,'” Hutchinson testified.
Hutchinson said Ornato told her that.
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