A former member of then-President Donald Trump’s administration, one of the star witnesses of the Democrat-led January 6 Committee and whose testimony largely shaped its final report, could soon be deposed by House Republicans due to their discovery of a document that revealed major discrepancies in her story.
She has also waived attorney-client privilege.
“As the Jan. 6 congressional investigation rushed to a close in 2022, one of the House Democrats’ star witnesses waived her attorney-client privilege with her first lawyer in a move that could now open the door for House Republicans to question both her and her attorney,” Just the News reported on Friday.
“Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony played a large role in shaping House Democrats’ final report sharply criticizing Donald Trump for the Capitol riot that ensued on Jan. 6, 2021, but Republicans on the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk recently discovered an errata sheet she submitted to Congress that made substantial changes to her account midway through the Democrat-led inquiry,” the report continued, added: “Errata sheets are routinely provided to deponents and witnesses by stenographers to allow for correction of typographic errors and dropped words.”
On September 12, 2022, Joseph H. Hunt of Alston & Bird, representing the client, sent a letter to the House Democrats’ J6 committee relinquishing her privileges with Passantino.
In this communication, not only were typographical errors corrected but also new and substantive testimony was provided to the committee.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(a)(1), this letter will confirm that our client, Cassidy Hutchinson, is waiving the attorney-client privilege regarding all communications with her previous counsel, Stefan Pasantino, between February 7, 2022, and June 8, 2022,” Hunt wrote the committee led by then-Chairman Bennie Thompson D-Miss.
“The scope of this waiver includes all communications related to Ms. Hutchinson’s interviews with and provision of information to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” the letter added. “The waiver does not include communications with Alston & Bird attorneys.”
Loudermilk has stated that his panel is preparing to investigate Hutchinson’s shift in narrative, which may include interviewing her former attorney, Passantino.
“Cassidy Hutchinson tried to explain her dramatic changes in testimony by blaming her initial lawyer Stefan Passantino. Our discovery of Cassidy’s errata sheet showing just how substantially her story changed, raises serious concerns about her credibility. Until now, her version of the story was the only one,” Loudermilk told Just the News.
“Now we know Stefan is no longer prohibited from speaking about his interactions with Cassidy by attorney-client privilege. We look forward to hearing the truth from Stefan about his interactions with his then-client Ms. Hutchinson, and the Select Committee,” he added.
Jesse Binnal, an attorney representing Passantino, has stated that his client is prepared to collaborate with the House inquiry.
“Mr. Passantino has been put in an awful position. But he is and has always been willing to cooperate with any effort to get at the truth,” Binnal told the outlet.
In December 2020, Just the News reported that Passantino had filed a lawsuit against Congress, alleging that the House Democrat-led investigation into the events of January 6 violated his right to due process by imposing a “preordained political and legal narrative”.
Text messages from shortly before Hutchinson’s closed-door interview with the special committee were cited in support of this claim; these messages indicated that she did not wish to comply with the inquiry and appeared to be preparing to leak information about it independently of her lawyer.
Furthermore, Hutchinson later revised her account of what transpired after parting ways with Passantino, claiming he had pressured her to remain loyal to former President Donald Trump.
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