DOJ Pursues Perjury Charge Against Ex-Trump Aide: Source

The Justice Department is reportedly moving toward criminal charges against one of the most prominent Jan. 6 witnesses: Cassidy Hutchinson. A person familiar with the matter tells NBC News, the Guardian, and Bloomberg that prosecutors are seeking to have a Washington, DC, grand jury indict Hutchinson, a White House aide to President Trump during his first term, on a charge that she lied to Congress. The panel has heard evidence but hasn't yet been asked to vote, the source says.

Republicans referred Hutchinson to the DOJ earlier this year after accusing her of falsely testifying to the Jan. 6 committee in 2022 that Trump knew violence was possible on Jan. 6, 2021; she has repeatedly stood by her account. Interestingly, the probe is being handled by DOJ's Civil Rights Division, led by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, and is advancing despite the department's usual practice of steering clear of politically fraught cases close to an election. Punchbowl News was the first to report the story.