The civil rights division of President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is investigating Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump administration staffer who was a star witness in the investigation of the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, for allegedly lying to Congress.
According to The New York Times' Michael Schmidt, "The move was a highly unusual one by Justice Department leadership, directing a criminal case that appears to involve accusations of lying to Congress to a specialized unit that normally focuses on systemic civil rights abuses like police misconduct and racial discrimination. And yet the decision was in keeping with the administration’s bid to find new ways to use the powers of the federal government to target Mr. Trump’s political opponents."
Hutchinson, who previously worked for former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, made a number of bombshell claims to the House January 6 Committee, including that Trump physically tried to wrest the steering wheel away from his driver to join the rioters storming the Capitol.
Trump and some Secret Service officials close to him have denied this claim.
According to the report, "Some Justice Department officials have been skeptical from the outset about whether there is a viable criminal case to be made against Ms. Hutchinson ... Nonetheless, the inquiry into her was opened in recent weeks as the former attorney general, Pam Bondi, was trying to shore up her shaky standing with the president, according to two other people briefed on the effort." Bondi was ultimately fired last week.
Trump's administration has attempted to push charges against a number of the president's direct critics, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. These prosecutions have mostly been derailed by lack of substance and procedural mistakes made by pro-Trump prosecutors.