The White House aide who testified that former President Donald Trump had an angry outburst at his security detail on Jan. 6, 2021 was urged in advance not to bring up the episode by a lawyer linked to the then-president’s legal team.
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled in closed-door questioning by the House Jan. 6 committee released on Thursday that Stefan Passantino, a former Trump White House ethics lawyer, advised her to claim she could not recall details of the episode.
Hutchinson, an aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, was a star witness in the committee’s televised hearings over the summer. In the transcripts, she testified that Passantino and other Trump allies floated potential job offers amid her appearances for depositions, which she saw as efforts to keep her loyal. She also described a number of encounters with various White House associates giving her unsolicited advice on dealing with the committee.
