Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reacts as he speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Now that former AG Pam Bondi has been guillotined for not delivering up President Donald Trump’s enemies on a platter, MS NOW producer Steve Benen says the remaining department heads are desperately casting around for targets to appease the president.
Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is a major Trump critic and admitted that she saw him as a dangerous threat to U.S. democracy. But before she became a key witness for the January 6 Select Committee, Hutchinson was actually a Trump supporter.
Hutchinson's book "Enough" earned considerable media coverage, and she testified before the Jan. 6 committee that Trump was aware of the violent mob of his supporters storming the building but did not care.
“I overheard the president say something to the effect of, 'I don't effing care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me,” Hutchinson told the committee.
But now, with Republicans in control of the House, a partisan House panel led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) claims Hutchinson lied to Congress about Trump’s awareness of violence ahead of the 2021 insurrectionist riot.
Plus, this no longer Bondi’s DOJ, which was already heavily politicized. Now it is a heavily politicized DOJ under a cloud of panic.
“Under normal circumstances, the DOJ would blow off a criminal referral like this, recognizing it as more of a political stunt than a serious recommendation. However, note this detail that featured in a report The New York Times published Thursday on the DOJ’s efforts to please the president by pursuing his political foes: “ … They have … pushed prosecutors to investigate a former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, whom the president has accused of lying about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two officials briefed on the effort,” cited Benen.
“While MS NOW hasn’t independently verified this reporting, it dovetails with everything we’ve seen and learned about the White House’s control of federal law enforcement,” said Benen. “It also serves as a timely reminder that Hutchinson remains a Team Trump target — to the point that the most powerful officials at Main Justice have reportedly pushed prosecutors in private to pursue her.”