Trump's DOJ tried to charge a Jan. 6 witness. A D.C. grand jury said no.
Cassidy Hutchinson's 2022 testimony made her a target. Jurors returned a no-bill on Tuesday.
A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., refused on Tuesday to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump White House aide who became a star witness at the House January 6 committee's hearings.
The grand jury returned what lawyers call a "no bill," meaning not enough jurors agreed the evidence justified charges. The Justice Department had sought to charge Hutchinson with lying to Congress, ABC News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. NBC News confirmed the decision with a senior U.S. official, and the Associated Press confirmed it through two people familiar with it.
Who brought the case
According to NBC News, the case came from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, led by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, and the grand jury heard evidence in early October. The department and Hutchinson's lawyers did not immediately comment. Hutchinson has maintained that her testimony was truthful.
Hutchinson was a top aide to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. In June 2022 she testified that Trump wanted metal detectors removed at his Jan. 6 rally and wanted to go to the Capitol. She also relayed a secondhand account that he grabbed for the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle, which Secret Service officials later disputed. Republican lawmakers accused her of lying under oath and referred her to the Justice Department. Trump has called her a "scam artist" and suggested she be prosecuted, which is a personal attack, not evidence of a crime.
A pattern of failed cases
The no-bill is the latest setback in the department's push to charge people Trump sees as adversaries. NBC News reported that grand juries also refused to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James three times after her first case was dismissed. Former FBI Director James Comey has now been charged a third time.
What's next
A no-bill does not bar prosecutors from asking another grand jury to charge Hutchinson. It is not yet known whether they will try, or how the jury voted.
Grand juries usually indict almost anyone prosecutors bring them. When ordinary citizens keep saying no, the system's last check is working. We applaud the jurors who did their job.
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