Justice Dept.'s Civil Rights Division Is Investigating Star Witness Against Trump [View all]

Source: New York Times

Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Division Is Investigating Star Witness Against Trump

It was a highly unusual move by Justice Department leadership to direct a case that appears to involve accusations of lying to Congress to a division that normally focuses on civil rights abuses.


Cassidy Hutchinson during a hearing on Capitol Hill in 2022. The investigation into Ms. Hutchinson began weeks ago after the Justice Department received a referral from a Trump ally in Congress who accused Ms. Hutchinson of lying to the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

By Alan Feuer and Michael S. Schmidt
April 7, 2026, 4:02 p.m. ET

The Justice Department has assigned its civil rights division to investigate Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who outraged President Trump four years ago after her testimony before Congress implicated him in the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The move was a highly unusual one by Justice Department leadership, directing a criminal case that appears to involve accusations of lying to Congress to a specialized unit that normally focuses on systemic civil rights abuses like police misconduct and racial discrimination.

And yet the decision was in keeping with the administration’s bid to find new ways to use the powers of the federal government to target Mr. Trump’s political opponents. Those efforts persist even though the department has struggled to carry out the president’s demands for retribution and has increasingly hit roadblocks from judges, grand juries and even some of its own prosecutors.

Some Justice Department officials have been skeptical from the outset about whether there is a viable criminal case to be made against Ms. Hutchinson, who once worked for Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s last chief of staff during his first term in the White House.

{snip}

Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.

Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.

Michael S. Schmidt is an investigative reporter for The Times covering Washington. His work focuses on tracking and explaining high-profile federal investigations.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/nyregion/doj-cassidy-hutchinson-investigation-trump.html

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https://www.nytimes.com/by/alan-feuer
https://www.nytimes.com/by/michael-s-schmidt

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
‪@ryanjreilly.com‬

Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division, investigating Cassidy Huchinson for... reasons?

Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Division Is Investigating Star Witness Against Trump
www.nytimes.com
4:24 PM · Apr 7, 2026
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Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division, investigating Cassidy Huchinson for... reasons?

— Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” (@ryanjreilly.com) 2026-04-07T20:24:55.177Z