On Tuesday, CNN's Katelyn Polantz reported that an attorney linked to former President Donald Trump advised Cassidy Hutchinson, a key Trump administration staffer who spoke as a witness to the January 6 Committee, to mislead that committee.
Hutchinson's public testimony revealed a number of bombshell allegations, including that former President Donald Trump demanded the rioters be let into his speech at the Ellipse because "they're not here to hurt me."
She also said she heard that Trump tried to lunge at a Secret Service agent who wouldn't drive him to the Capitol complex and wrest the steering wheel away from him — allegations Secret Service officials deny.
"In the summary yesterday, the committee did highlight a lawyer that was paid by Donald Trump, a PAC working with Donald Trump, the Save America PAC, who was advising a client to mislead the committee," said Polantz. "We now at CNN have been able to confirm the witness they were talking about who was advised to mislead was Cassidy Hutchison, their star witness, and the lawyer was Stefan Passantino, who was representing Cassidy Hutchison, getting payments through an LLC that he set up to represent her and other witnesses and so that she, right before she was about to give her public testimony that was very damaging to Donald Trump, she changed lawyers. There was a big mystery around this."
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"Now there is a he said/she said happening of what happened," continued Polantz. "The committee is saying that she did say a client did tell them that the lawyer was advising her that she should testify, she couldn't recall certain things, that there were certain things she was going to say that could cast a bad light on Donald Trump, and she was saying that the lawyer told her, we don't want to go there, we don't want to talk about this. So those are some really accusations that the committee is levying."
Passantino, who also worked as a White House ethics attorney, released a statement to CNN, noted Polantz.
"He said, 'I represented Ms. Hutchison honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interest as she communicated them to me. I believe she was being truthful and cooperative with the committee throughout the several interview sessions in which I represented her,'" said Polantz. "Now since this, we have also learned today that Cassidy Hutchison has spoken to the Justice Department about this, and we have learned that Stefan Passantino has taken a leave of absence from a major law firm out of the Midwest that he's a partner in."
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