DOJ Civil Rights Division opens probe into House Democrats' J6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson: report

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has opened a probe into former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, according to a news report Tuesday.

Hutchinson testified in 2022 before a special House committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot that implicated President Trump. 

The DOJ is looking into whether Hutchinson committed perjury during her testimony, unnamed sources told The New York Times, which is reporting the story. 

The department assigning the case to the division appears unusual considering it focuses on potential civil rights violations – not allegations of crime, which would include lying to Congress.

The probe reportedly began in recent weeks as then-Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted unsuccessfully to keep from being fired, according to two unnamed sources. Trump fired Bondi last week, reportedly in part due to her failure to prosecute his political opponents. 

A probe regarding perjury before Congress would typically be handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., which is run by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. 

However, she has also experienced several setbacks in her attempts to pursue criminal cases in federal court against Trump's political opponents.

DOJ leaders didn't offer Pirro the opportunity to open the probe into Hutchinson, instead giving it directly to Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon, the anonymous sources also said.

Pirro's spokesman declined to comment on the probe to the Times, and a DOJ spokeswoman did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment.

The DOJ probe reportedly began after the department received a referral from a Trump ally in Congress who accused her of lying to the congressional committee.

Hutchinson testified that Trump had encouraged the crowd that gathered to hear him speak near the White House on January 6 to march to the Capitol even though he knew it could turn violent. She also claimed that she had heard that Trump lunged a Secret Service agent in a presidential limo when he was told he could not join his supporters on Capitol Hill. Other people's testimony later contradicted that claim.