Grand jury declines to indict Cassidy Hutchinson over Jan. 6 testimony, sources say

A federal grand jury in Washington declined Tuesday, Oct. 27, to approve an indictment the Justice Department had asked for. Multiple people familiar with the proceedings say the target was Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide whose 2022 testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee made her a household name.

The refusal is on the record. Neville Hedley, a litigator in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, told Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in open court Tuesday afternoon that a grand jury had not concurred on a proposed indictment. Hedley did not name the defendant. The identification of Hutchinson comes from anonymous sources who spoke to The Washington Post, the Associated Press and CBS News. The Justice Department has not responded to requests for comment.

What prosecutors were looking at

The case centers on whether Hutchinson lied to Congress. Details of the allegations have not been made public, and reporters have not been able to determine which statements prosecutors were scrutinizing.

House Republicans Jim Jordan of Ohio and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia referred Hutchinson to the DOJ earlier this year, alleging she gave false testimony, according to The Washington Post. Hutchinson has acknowledged in court filings in a separate case that she is under DOJ investigation.

Reports that a grand jury was hearing evidence surfaced in recent days. The Civil Rights Division is handling the matter, which Daily Wire called an unusual assignment for a false-statements case.

The testimony at issue

Hutchinson was a special assistant to then-chief of staff Mark Meadows. She testified June 28, 2022, at a hearing the committee announced just 24 hours earlier.

She said Trump knew some supporters at his Ellipse rally were armed and wanted the magnetometers removed. She said he declined to intervene as the crowd chanted "Hang Mike Pence."

Her most famous claim was secondhand. She said then-deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato told her that Trump, furious that the Secret Service would not take him to the Capitol, reached for the steering wheel of the presidential SUV and lunged at his lead agent, Robert Engel. "Tony described him as being irate," she testified. She acknowledged under oath that she was not in the vehicle.

The driver of the SUV later told the committee, in sworn testimony, that he did not see Trump grab the wheel or lunge at anyone. House Republicans released that transcript in March 2024. According to the Associated Press, it contradicted parts of her account but corroborated others, including Trump's attempt to join the crowd at the Capitol. The driver said Trump was irritated when told he could not go.

Trump denied much of her account on Truth Social at the time and called her a "total phony."

The critics' case

Hutchinson's Republican critics say the steering-wheel story was not an honest mistake. John Nolte, writing at Breitbart, argues that both Ornato and Engel deny the episode happened, and that Ornato says he first heard the story when Hutchinson told it to the committee. He calls her testimony "alleged lies" and says she profited from it through media attention and a best-selling book. Nolte also cites a December 2024 criticism from Loudermilk's subcommittee that she communicated with then-committee vice chair Liz Cheney without her own attorney's knowledge.

Hutchinson's side has a documented answer on the central point: she told the committee she was relaying what she had been told. Her representatives have previously said she stands by all of her testimony. Her attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday's outcome.

She has also alleged that members of Trump's inner circle dangled job opportunities and financial help while she was cooperating with the committee. She testified that her then-lawyer, a former Trump White House ethics counsel, told her: "The less you remember, the better."

A pattern in D.C.

Grand juries almost never refuse to indict when prosecutors ask. Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, federal prosecutors in Washington have failed several times to obtain indictments they sought, according to CNBC's count.

The AP described Tuesday's outcome as the latest setback in the DOJ's efforts to charge perceived adversaries of the president. The Justice Department has not said that characterization is accurate.

Prosecutors have also changed tactics in other cases. In recent weeks they filed charges against former FBI Director James Comey and two former FBI officials using an "information" rather than a grand jury indictment. On Oct. 5 the DOJ used that document to charge Comey with retaining or sharing national defense information with someone not authorized to have it.

Comey's lawyers say the DOJ chose that route in an effort to suspend the charge's 10-year statute of limitations. They argue the deadline for a grand jury indictment was Oct. 5, the day the information was filed, and have asked a judge to dismiss the case.

What comes next

No charges have been filed against Hutchinson. A grand jury declined to approve the request, and the DOJ has not said whether it will present the matter again, drop it, or pursue another route. Judge Faruqui, who heard Hedley's disclosure, has not indicated any further steps on the matter.