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One of the Democrat-led January 6 Committee’s star witnesses, a former member of then-President Donald Trump’s administration whose testimony largely shaped the panel’s final report, could soon be deposed by House Republicans after she waived attorney-client privilege and after the discovery of a document indicating major changes in her story.
“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.”
Before submitting the errata sheet in September 2022, correcting and modifying testimony she had provided since February of that year, she terminated her initial attorney, Stefan Passantino, and enlisted new legal representation from the prestigious firm of Alston & Bird. This firm has been home to numerous distinguished legal figures over the decades, including the late Senate Republican Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole, the outlet reported.
Her new attorney at Alston & Bird, Joseph H. Hunt, sent a letter to the House Democrats’ J6 committee on September 12, 2022, relinquishing her privileges with Passantino. In this communication, she went beyond correcting typographical errors and provided new and substantive testimony 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.”
Now, Loudermilk says his panel is preparing to dig into Hutchinson’s change of story, and that could 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 for Passantino, said his client is ready to cooperate 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.
Last month, Passantino filed a lawsuit against Congress alleging that the House Democrat-led Jan. 6 probe imposed a “preordained political and legal narrative“ and thus violated his rights to due process.
According to a December report, Just the News noted that the suit also cites text messages indicating “that [Hutchinson] initially did not want to comply with the January 6 committee’s investigation and appeared to prepare to leak information about the committee’s proceedings to the media independently of her lawyer.”
These texts originate from just before her initial closed-door interview with the special committee investigating the January 6 riot. They precede her revision of the account of events that occurred after parting ways with Passantino. She claimed that Passantino had exerted pressure on her to remain “loyal” to former President Donald Trump.
