‘I’m F*cked, I Just Lied’: Blockbuster New Jan. 6 Transcript Shows Cassidy Hutchinson’s Tense Chats with Trump Lawyer Who Urged Her to Mislead Committee

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Cassidy Hutchison, the former aide to Trump chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, was urged to mislead the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to her testimony in deposition transcripts released by the committee on Thursday.

Hutchinson, who had served a vital and central role in former President Donald Trump’s administration, provided bombshell testimony in a public hearing for the committee in June, and also provided sworn testimony for a deposition on Sept. 14. She was originally represented for her testimony with the committee by Passantino, whose legal fees were paid for by Trump’s Save America PAC.

In July, The New York Times reported how a friend of Hutchinson’s said she “took pains to avoid speculating about the president” in her initial depositions but then “warmed to the idea” of being more helpful to the committee, but was stymied by Passantino, who was “there to insulate the big guy,” meaning Trump.

In the transcript for the Sept. 14 deposition, she described it as a very stressful time trying to find an attorney, because she did not have the financial resources to afford a top-notch attorney on her own, and worried about being indebted to people whose primary allegiance was to Trump, not her. Hutchinson described being told to reach out to various people including CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Trump campaign consultant Susie Wiles. She even reached out to estranged family members to try and borrow money, to no avail.

Hutchinson would end up retaining Passantino but then ditching him for new counsel who were not financially tied to the former president and agreed to represent her pro bono. In the Sept. 14 deposition, she describes how Passantino had aggressively coached her to mislead the committee and claim she did not recall details about the events surrounding Jan. 6 even though she did.

Even their initial conversation set off alarm bells, with Hutchinson saying that she asked Passantino about how his legal bill was being paid, and he replied that she did not need to sign an engagement letter and to not worry about the funding because “[i]f you want to know at the end, we’ll let you know, but we’re not telling people where the funding is coming from right now,” but she would never get a bill.

Hutchinson mentioned how she wanted to look at a calendar to refresh her memory on events, who was present at which meeting on which date, and so on, and Passantino discouraged her from doing so, saying their goal was to “downplay” her role, to portray her as just a “secretary” with “an administrative role” and “nothing to do with this.”

“The less you remember, the better,” Hutchinson said Passantino told her. “I don’t think you should be filling in any calendars or anything.”

She specifically brought up the conversation she had with Tony Ornato, the former Secret Service assistant director who then became White House deputy chief of staff, about Trump’s physical altercation with the Secret Service agent who refused to drive him to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

According to Hutchinson, when she brought up Ornato, Passantino responded, “No, no, no, no, no. We don’t want to go there. We don’t want to talk about that.”

In one of the more damning sections of the deposition, Hutchinson describes speaking with Passantino during a break in her testimony for the committee, and telling him she thought she was “fucked” because she had “just lied,” he repeatedly insisted she “didn’t lie,” and that the committee members “don’t know that you can recall some of these things.”

Hutchinson went into further detail about her questions about how Passantino urged her to say “I don’t recall” to the committee’s questions, even if she did remember. She specifically asked him if that would be perjury.

“The committee doesn’t know what you can and can’t recall,” she said he told her, “so we want to be able to use that as much as we can unless you really, really remember something very clearly,” urging her to “give a short, sweet response.”

According to Hutchinson, Passantino “never told me to lie,” but did repeatedly insist that saying “I don’t recall” was not perjury.

She also described him as urging her to not repeat conversations she had overheard, and to leave the inflammatory story about Trump lunging at the Secret Service agent for Ornato’s testimony.

Hutchison testified that Passantino reassured her she would be fine following his advice. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she said he told her. “We’re taking care of you. Just downplay your position. This will be over in a few hours, and then you’ll be done. This will be behind you.” He also emphasized that it was “not fair” she was put in this position, and “[w]e just want to focus on protecting the President. We all know you’re loyal.”

Passantino mentioned “potential job opportunities” to Hutchinson while he was still representing her, something that she cited as being part of the pressure she felt to remain loyal.

“Your go-to, Cass, is ‘I don’t recall,'” Hutchinson said Passantino told her, urging her to repeatedly use that answer so that the committee would “realize really quick that they have better witnesses than you” and would avoid asking her “as complicated of questions as you’re worried about.” She also expressed how she was “extremely nervous” because she “almost felt like at points Donald Trump was looking over my shoulder,” because “I know how Trump World operates.”

Hutchinson said she told Passantino she felt “really guilty and bad” about not being completely forthcoming in her first interview with the committee and that she “should go back and clarify some things,” but he discouraged her from doing so.

Hutchinson described how she agonized over her testimony, feeling guilty she had not been more forthcoming, and confided in another Republican member of Congress (who remains unnamed), who urged her to make sure she could look herself in the mirror. She was more forthcoming in her third interview with the committee, to Passantino’s obvious displeasure.

The “breaking point” for her, she testified, was when Passantino urged her to stop cooperating with the committee in June, ahead of her public testimony, telling her “contempt is a small risk, but running to the right is better for you.”

Hutchinson retained new counsel, former Department of Justice attorney Jody Hunt, who agreed to represent her pro bono.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated with additional information.