Grand Jury Declines to Indict Cassidy Hutchinson Over Her Jan. 6 Testimony, Officials Say

A federal grand jury in Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 27, declined to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide whose 2022 testimony made her a star witness for the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The grand jury returned what is known as a “no bill,” rejecting the Justice Department’s effort to charge her, a senior U.S. official confirmed to NBC News. The Washington Post first reported the decision, according to CNBC.

What happened in court

Hutchinson’s name was not mentioned in open court. Senior Justice Department lawyer Neville Hedley told Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui that the grand jury had rejected a requested indictment, CNBC reported, citing The Post. The senior official told NBC News the no bill was in the Hutchinson case.

A grand jury heard evidence against her in early October, a person familiar with the effort told NBC News.

Prosecutors in the department’s Civil Rights Division, led by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, sought to charge Hutchinson based on claims she made false statements, CNBC said, citing two people with knowledge of the case reported by MS NOW. Attorneys for Hutchinson and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.

Can prosecutors try again?

Yes. A grand jury’s refusal to indict does not bar the Justice Department from seeking charges again, NBC News noted.

What Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 committee

Hutchinson was a senior aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. In June 2022 testimony before the now-defunct House select committee, she described:

• Metal detectors: Trump urging that metal detectors be removed from the area near the White House where he spoke on Jan. 6, quoting him as saying the rally attendees were “not here to hurt me.”
• The presidential vehicle: A secondhand account, which she attributed to then-White House official Tony Ornato, that an “irate” Trump reached for the steering wheel and lunged toward the head of his security detail, Robert Engel, when told he could not go to the Capitol.

Secret Service officials denied the vehicle account, NBC News reported. Trump has called Hutchinson a “scam artist” who lied under oath; she has maintained that her testimony was truthful.

How the case got here

Part of a broader pattern

Grand juries rarely refuse to indict when prosecutors present a case, CNBC noted. But NBC News said the Hutchinson decision is the latest in a string of failed attempts to charge people Trump has cast as political enemies. Its report pointed to repeated unsuccessful efforts to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James after an earlier case was dismissed, and a failed bid to indict six Democratic members of Congress over a video about unlawful orders.

Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News in April, speaking broadly about failed indictments, that “it could be that the grand jury just made the wrong decision.”

The spike in rejections led the chief federal judge in Washington to require the department to notify the duty magistrate judge whenever a grand jury declines to indict, NBC News reported.

FAQ