J6 committee says Trump attorney urged Cassidy Hutchinson to lie during testimony

21 December 2022

Ex-FBI official: Messages sent to Cassidy Hutchinson were an 'attempt to intimidate a witness'

An ethics attorney to Donald Trump allegedly instructed former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson to lie about her own recollection of events during her notable testimony in June, CNN reports.

Stefan Passantino, who Hutchinson fired as her attorney prior to her testimony, was paid by Trump’s political action committee, Save America for his legal services. The former Deputy White House Counsel claims that many people drop their lawyers “because their interests or strategies change.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee said to CNN, “She was advised to say that she didn’t recall something when she did. So that’s pretty serious stuff.”

Passantino said in a statement to CNN that any claims of him advising Hutchinson to deceive the committee are untrue. “I represented Ms. Hutchinson honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me,” he said. “I believed Ms. Hutchinson was being truthful and cooperative with the Committee throughout the several interview sessions in which I represented her.”

The committee also alleges that the attorney provided Hutchinson’s testimony to fellow lawyers, as well as the press, despite her disapproval.

Passantino claimed, “External communications made on Ms. Hutchinson’s behalf while I was her counsel were made with her express authorization.”

Michael Best & Friefrich LLP, the law firm he’s served as partner, deleted the long-time attorney’s headshot and bio from its website this week. Although, he says “given the distraction of this matter” he’s only on “a leave of absence.” The firm maintains that they were not involved in any way and Hutchinson was never a client, according to CNN.

The Jan. 6 committee included their assessment of this matter in the executive summary of their report. “The lawyer had advised the witness that the witness could, in certain circumstances, tell the Committee that she did not recall facts when she actually did recall them,” the report says.

“When the witness raised concerns with her lawyer about that approach,” according to the summary, the lawyer said, “They don’t know what you know, [witness]. They don’t know that you can recall some of these things. So you saying ‘I don’t recall’ is an entirely acceptable response to this.”

The report continues, “The lawyer instructed the client about a particular issue that would cast a bad light on President Trump: ‘No, no, no, no, no. We don’t want to go there. We don’t want to talk about that.’”

The committee stated that it will share the transcript of the witness testimony in question with the public.

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