
Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide to Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, had a Trump-funded lawyer during her ongoing testimony with the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack and what led up to it. But before appearing in person, she ditched the Trump lawyer for another one. Now that lawyer, Stefan Passantino, is suing the select committee, which no longer exists.
Ten months after Hutchinson appeared before the committee and four months after the committee was disbanded, Passantino alleges that that committee developed a "false narrative" that he encouraged Hutchinson to lie.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the allegations were "an outrageous tale" that the committee leaked, Bloomberg Law cited.
The issue became public when the committee released the report and all of the depositions and testimony to the public. That included Hutchinson's, in which she said that Passantino advised her to mislead the committee about events at the White House during the attack.
"Passantino’s lawyers denied the accusation in the new complaint, arguing that the committee leaked the testimony without verifying it," Bloomberg explained. "Ensuing media coverage caused Passantino 'reputational, emotional, and economic' damage, according to the complaint."
Interestingly, the committee didn't make the claim, and it was published along with everything else.
Passantino and his firm Michael Best & Friedrich parted ways after the testimony became public. The group, Lawyers Defending Democracy then filed a complaint in March with the Washington Bar Association asking for Passantino to have his license revoked.
Hutchinson testified to the House that Passantino told her to claim she didn't recall details that happened on Jan. 6, namely overhearing the tale of the incident in which former President Donald Trump allegedly lunged at Secret Service agents in the SUV.
At the time, Passantino claimed he acted "honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me."