Fears of lawmakers’ sexual text to Cassidy Hutchinson being released may have stopped a Republican subpoena: report
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An aide working for House Speaker Mike Johnson stepped in last June to advise Republicans against issuing a subpoena for former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for fear that it might expose sexual texts lawmakers sent her, according to The Washington Post.
The subpoena was intended to be a part of House Republicans’ own investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress.
Johnson brought the investigation back to life this week as President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress seek revenge against perceived political enemies, such as those who investigated the attack on the Capitol.
Hutchinson gained national fame after testifying in a 2022 hearing during which she claimed Trump wanted an armed mob to take to the Capitol on January 6, and that he wanted to go to the Congressional complex himself.
The 28-year-old, who worked for former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified before the January 6 House Select Committee on 28 June 2022 during an explosive hearing.
Hutchinson interned for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise before joining the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In March 2020, she became an aide to Meadows.
She testified during the 2022 hearing that former Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on 2 January 2021 that Trump and his associates had plans for January 6. When she told Meadows, she said he “didn’t look up from his phone and said something to the effect of … ‘things might get real, real bad’”.
Hutchinson testified that Trump wanted security checkpoints downgraded despite knowing that some in the crowd were armed, including with assault-style rifles.
She said she heard Trump say “something to the effect of ‘I don’t f***ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me’.”
When White House counsel Pat Cipollone urged Meadows to get Trump to take action as the crowd grew louder, including calls for the hanging of Pence, Hutchinson said Meadows noted that Trump thought Pence “deserves it” and that the president “doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”
She said that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol after his speech but that Secret Service agent Robert Engel said it wouldn’t be safe. Hutchinson said that Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato said that Trump grew irate, insisting he go to the Capitol, even going so far as to lunge for the wheel of the presidential vehicle and to try to grab Engel by the throat.
Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, and his top aides told Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia and his staff that subpoenaing Hutchinson and asking her to testify under oath could possibly embarrass the Trump White House as it would hand her an opportunity to tell her story once again, two people at the meeting told The Post.
Loudermilk had suggested in public that a subpoena be issued for Hutchinson. Before the meeting, an aide to Johnson told Loudermilk’s aides that several colleagues had shared concerns that “sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors” with Hutchinson could be shared publically, correspondence from the time reveals, according to the paper.
An email seen by the outlet also showed that a Johnson staffer told Loudermilk’s aides that Hutchinson may “potentially reveal embarrassing information.”
Loudermilk led a Republican investigation into the Jan 6 attack in the last Congress, including the probe of the attack headed by Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson and then-Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
Earlier this month, Loudermilk told CNN that Johnson had given the green light to the investigation from the previous Congress being brought back as a new panel. Johnson appointed Loudermilk to lead a new select subcommittee on Wednesday intended to continue the Republican investigation.
“House Republicans are proud of our work exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated Jan. 6 Select Committee, but there’s more to be done,” the speaker wrote on X on 22 January. “We’re establishing a Select Subcommittee chaired by @RepLoudermilk to continue our efforts to uncover the full truth.”
Johnson’s announcement revealed that the subcommittee would be moved from the House Administration Committee under chair Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin to the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
“I appreciate @SpeakerJohnson’s commitment to our work, and I am looking forward to working with Chairman @Jim_Jordan to continue to uncover all the facts and begin the arduous task of making needed reforms to ensure this level of security failure may never happen again,” Loudermilk wrote on X on Wednesday.
Loudermilk was reportedly considering subpoenaing Hutchinson for testimony and electronic communications because he thought she could provide new information, two people involved in the investigation told The Post. The information he sought was about Cheney, who had organized Hutchinson’s testimony.
The paper did not review the reportedly sexual texts and didn’t identify the senders or whether Hutchinson responded.
Critics have attacked the Republican investigation as an attempt by Trump and his allies to rewrite the history of what happened during the Capitol attack and to seek revenge against those who blamed the president for inciting the violence from his supporters on that day.
Hutchinson’s attorney, Bill Jordan, told The Post that she cooperated voluntarily with the investigation, criticizing the interim report issued by Loudermilk in December, which stated that Cheney had been “secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge.”
“Ms. Hutchinson has testified truthfully and stands behind every word despite the efforts of men in powerful positions to attack her,” Jordan told The Post.
Last month, Cheney said in a statement that Loudermilk’s report was a “malicious and cowardly assault on the truth.”
Loudermilk told reporters on Monday that Trump has asked him to “continue the investigation and continue to expose the truth.”
“I know President Trump is 100 percent behind it,” he added.
In one of his final acts in office, former President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for Cheney, the other members of the original January 6 committee, and some staff to protect them from reprisals from the incoming Trump administration. Hutchinson didn’t receive a pardon.
