What to Know After a Grand Jury Declined to Indict Cassidy Hutchinson

A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who testified about Jan. 6, 2021, sources told CBS News, ABC News and The Associated Press. The Washington Post first reported the outcome. The Justice Department did not immediately comment.

Here are the key questions readers are asking.

What happened with the grand jury?

Prosecutors asked the grand jury to return an indictment and were turned down, according to four sources who spoke to CBS News. A litigator with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Neville Hedley, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui during an unrelated hearing on Tuesday that the grand jury had not agreed to a proposed indictment, CBS reported. He did not name the defendant, but multiple sources said it was Hutchinson.

What did prosecutors want to charge?

Reports differ on the details. ABC News reported that the Justice Department had sought charges of lying to Congress over her testimony to the House Select Committee that investigated the Capitol attack. The Guardian, citing the AP, said the specifics of the allegations were not immediately clear, though Republican lawmakers had accused her of lying under oath. CBS News said it could not determine which parts of her testimony were under scrutiny and noted that media reports say House Republican allies of the president made the referral.

Who is Cassidy Hutchinson, and what did she say?

Hutchinson was a top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. She testified in 2022 before the House committee, at a hearing announced just 24 hours earlier, according to The Guardian.

She said Trump and Meadows were warned on Jan. 6 that some supporters were carrying weapons, and that Trump tried to have security screening devices removed at the rally where he spoke that morning, CBS reported. She also relayed a secondhand account, which she said came from then-deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato, that Trump lunged for the steering wheel of his vehicle after the Secret Service would not take him to the Capitol.

Is her account disputed?

Yes. CBS News reported that Trump’s driver later said in sworn testimony that the president never tried to grab the wheel. ABC News said Trump has strongly denied the account and that other White House employees did not confirm the detail. The Guardian reported that Trump denied much of her testimony on Truth Social at the time.

Hutchinson has said she stands by what she told the committee, according to ABC. Former special counsel Jack Smith has said he chose not to treat her as a material witness because much of her testimony rested on hearsay, ABC reported.

Why does it matter?

ABC News described the failed indictment as the latest setback for the Justice Department in what critics call a campaign of retribution by Trump. The Guardian, citing the AP, likewise called it the latest setback in the department’s efforts to charge perceived adversaries of the Republican president.

For Hutchinson, the outcome means no charges have been filed against her. The Justice Department had not responded to requests for comment as of Tuesday evening.

What has Hutchinson said about pressure on her testimony?

Hutchinson has alleged that members of Trump’s inner circle dangled job offers and financial help while she was cooperating with the committee, according to The Guardian. She also testified that her own lawyer told her, “The less you remember, the better.”

Around Prague, based on reporting by CBS News, ABC News, The Guardian