GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk has asked federal prosecutors to consider bringing perjury charges against Cassidy Hutchinson. The latter is the 29-year-old former White House aide who became a Jan. 6 star witness to the Justice Department. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan co-signed the criminal referral, but as of now, the DOJ or Hutchinson’s lawyers haven’t responded.
It has now become a years-long Republican effort to discredit Hutchinson, who described to Congress in 2022 how the White House was in chaos and that the president was allegedly aware of the potential for violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and was fine with it.
In her testimony, Hutchinson said she heard that Donald Trump was angry about the fact that the Secret Service detail wouldn’t drive him to the Capitol. So, he allegedly moved toward the front of the presidential limo and grabbed the steering wheel. According to Hutchinson, a Secret Service agent and a White House deputy were also witnesses. But they didn’t recall it the same way.
Then, during the same 2022 testimony, a handwritten note was displayed. It was a potential statement for Trump to urge rioters to leave the Capitol that Hutchinson said she wrote because Mark Meadows asked her to.
A House subcommittee eventually hired a handwriting expert who determined that the note was written by then-White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, who has been saying that Hutchinson wasn’t even in the room. Republicans have, since then, considered this defamatory.
🚨 Breaking News: The House Administration’s Oversight Subcommittee has revealed that Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness in the January 6 investigation, gave false testimony about a pivotal note, which was actually written by Eric Herschmann. @LizCheney
involved! pic.twitter.com/eySi2gVpE6
— Leebra1015 (@Leebra1510) October 22, 2024
Former special counsel Jack Smith prosecuted Trump over Jan. 6, and he told the House Judiciary Committee that Hutchinson was not a powerful witness in the probe. Many of her accounts, as she admitted, were secondhand and, therefore, inadmissible hearsay.
Some of her claims were also inconsistent when compared to those of other witnesses. Smith said he had “a conflict” between what people had to say about the handwritten note, and that different witnesses were “seeing it from a different perspective.”
So while he didn’t call her unreliable, he also didn’t build a federal case around her testimony.
Criminal referrals from Congress are common in politically charged environments, but they don’t automatically lead to charges. This referral, however, comes as the Trump administration has been pursuing criminal cases against many of its opponents.
Another former DOJ prosecutor, Thomas Windom, who worked on the Jan. 6 probe, has been referred by the House Judiciary for prosecution, too, but he hasn’t been charged either. Hutchinson’s former attorney (Stefan Passantino) said he acted ethically throughout and was investigated in Washington, D.C., and Georgia. Both inquiries were dropped.
The FBI investigated those claims, too. No charges came from any of it.
The January 6 investigation started in 2021. The DOJ hired Thomas Windom in fall 2021. The investigation didn’t start with Jack Smith. Trump announced in November 2022. They didn’t wait 2.5 years. Trump fought DOJ subpoenas to run out the clock & voters didn’t even care. pic.twitter.com/mfEw2GNHEw
— Fly Sistah 🪷 (@Fly_Sistah) August 22, 2025
Online, some users pointed out how ironic it was that Republicans now want to invoke perjury standards that they have not applied to allies. Others said that if Hutchinson has lied under oath, she should be held accountable.
When Republicans first came after Hutchinson’s credibility, her attorney, William Jordan, said she “will not succumb to a pressure campaign from those who seek to silence her.” She later endorsed Kamala Harris for president, as Trump and JD Vance were unfit to uphold the Constitution. Now that the government is trying to make her pay, will the Justice Department take a stand?
