The Justice Department takes Cassidy Hutchinson, the Jan. 6 committee’s star witness, to a grand jury

What happened

In June 2022, Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the House January 6 committee that Trump was told some of his supporters were armed and said he didn’t care. She was an aide to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. She also relayed a secondhand story, attributed to deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato, that Trump lunged at the steering wheel when the Secret Service would not drive him to the Capitol. Trump’s driver later said in sworn testimony that this never happened.

Republican Reps. Barry Loudermilk and Jim Jordan referred her to the Justice Department for alleged false testimony. In the week of October 5, 2026, prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury in Washington, CBS News, NBC News and the Washington Post reported on October 8. Punchbowl News first reported the grand jury activity.

The case is run by the Civil Rights Division, led by Harmeet Dhillon, not by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which CBS’s sources called unusual. WIRED reported that prosecutors are weighing perjury and obstruction charges but are not expected to seek an indictment until after the November 3 midterms. The department said it does not confirm or deny investigations. CBS could not determine which parts of her testimony are under scrutiny.

Who benefited

Trump, whose conduct on January 6 her testimony described. The witness whose account was among the most damaging to him is now the one under investigation, by a division whose leader Trump appointed.

Who wanted something

Loudermilk and Jordan, who made the referral, and who spent years attacking the January 6 committee’s work. WIRED reported the referral became a department priority, and that Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April partly for moving too slowly on cases against his perceived enemies, according to its sources.

Who lost out

Hutchinson, who faces a possible charge for testimony she gave to Congress at 25. CBS said it had asked her lawyers for comment; none was reported. Some Justice officials doubt a case can be made, WIRED reported, because perjury requires proof that a lie was knowing and material.

Why it matters

Witnesses who testify about a president to Congress now face his Justice Department afterward. The Civil Rights Division’s cases are supposed to involve a civil rights violation; this one was assigned there instead of the prosecutors who normally handle lying-to-Congress cases.

Sources CBS NewsNBC NewsThe Washington PostWIRED