Yahoo Movies Who Is Cassidy Hutchinson, the Former White House Aide Expected to Testify at Tuesday's Jan. 6 Hearing?
New revelations about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots are likely to surface Tuesday following the surprise announcement that the House committee investigating the insurrection will air its next hearing Tuesday at 1 p.m. EDT, instead of in July as previously thought.
In an announcement released Monday, the committee said the Tuesday hearing was being held "to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony."
The surprise guest at Tuesday's hearing, according to media outlets including Punchbowl News, is Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a top aide to Donald Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Some of Hutchinson's previous testimony — recorded by the committee a while back — has already aired in earlier hearings. But Tuesday will see her testify live.
That Hutchinson's appearance was announced just 24 hours prior (and at a time when no public hearing had been expected) underscores the impact it may have. As an executive assistant to Meadows — who was last year held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to investigators looking into the Capitol riots — she was in close proximity to Trump and his most loyal allies.
The Guardian reports that, prior to joining the White House, Hutchinson interned for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
House Select Committee via AP Cassidy Hutchinson
Last week, the committee aired video footage of Hutchinson's earlier deposition, in which she testified that several Republican members of Congress sought a blanket pardon for their involvement in the former president's attempts to overturn his defeat.
Hutchinson said that Rep. Matt Gaetz — who is currently the subject of a grand jury investigation into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid her to travel with him — had been seeking a pardon since early December, one month before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
"Mr. Gaetz was personally pushing for a pardon, and he was doing so since early December," Hutchinson alleged, adding: "I'm not sure why Mr. Gaetz had reached out to me to ask if he could have a meeting with Mr. Meadows about receiving a presidential pardon."
In the pre-recorded testimony that aired Thursday, Hutchinson also testified that Reps. Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert and Scott Perry had contacted the White House to inquire about securing pardons. Perry, she said, wanted Jeffrey Clark — an environmental lawyer and ally of Trump's whose home was recently searched by federal officials — to take over the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to help overturn the election in Trump's favor.
"He wanted Mr. Clark – Mr. Jeff Clark – to take over the Department of Justice," she said of Perry in a clip of her deposition that was played at a hearing last week.
Politico has reported that Hutchinson has testified to the committee that she saw Meadows burn papers in his office after meeting with Perry.
Hutchinson also previously testified that she overheard that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had asked for a pardon, as well.
In a tweet, Greene suggested the testimony relied on hearsay, writing: "Saying 'I heard' means you don't know."
