On Tuesday, a CNN panel reacted to a bombshell report that Stefan Passantino, a former White House ethics lawyer for the Trump administration, advised former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson to mislead the committee and say that she didn't recall various details that put the former president in a negative light.
Hutchinson, who changed attorneys shortly after this alleged exchange took place, went on to reveal a number of details to the committee in her public hearing, most famously alleging that Trump tried to wrest the steering wheel from a Secret Service agent who refused to take him to the Capitol complex to join the rioters on January 6 — a claim Secret Service leadership has flatly denied ever happened.
"The quote from the committee is that he said to her, 'They don't know what you know. They don't know that you can recall some of these things,'" said analyst Gloria Borger. "So you saying 'I don't recall' is an entirely acceptable response to a question that apparently would have put Donald Trump in bad light. If I were a client getting that advice, and I did recall something and my attorney said, no, no, you don't have to say that—"
"That's bordering on a federal offense," said legal expert Elliot Williams. "If you are urging someone to say they don't recall a fact that they, in fact, recall, you're telling them to lie under oath. So he could be prosecuted under that."
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe concurred that Passantino could be in serious trouble.
"Of course, a potential violation of the attorney code of ethics. Ironic that he's a former White House ethics lawyer," said McCabe. "But people were taken aback when they learned that the Trump PACs were paying for the representation of witnesses. That's not a violation of the ethics laws, but it is, when that attorney starts to advise the client, in a way to protect the payer's interest and not the client's interest. That may be what we're seeing here."
Watch the video below or at this link.