Cassidy Hutchinson was a full-time assistant in the Office of Legislation before being quickly promoted to special assistant to then-President Donald Trump and an adviser to Meadows before becoming his executive assistant until the end of the Trump administration.
Meadows made Hutchinson his legislative aide, and she would accompany Meadows to Capitol Hill for his most serious meetings. Hutchinson was with Meadows “all the time,” said a former White House official, and another source said she had “very close access to Meadows.”
A former White House staffer said Hutchinson had an argument with Meadows in 2021. She was supposed to go to Mar-a-Lago as a permanent staff member, but that never happened.
Hutchinson’s attempt to work closely with Meadows will allow the commission to gain further insight into Meadows’ efforts to cancel the election and find out what happened the day the Capitol was disrupted. A man close to Hutchinson told CNN that she had previously testified before the commission for at least 20 hours, detailing her time at key White House meetings as Trump and his allies tried to overturn election results.
She witnessed several key episodes leading up to Jan. 6, in addition to witnessing some of Trump’s real-time reactions that day.
In interviews with the committee, Hutchinson testified that a number of Republican members of Congress, including Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry and Louis Homert, had requested a preventive pardon since Jan. 6.
She also testified that Meadows was directly warned before the uprising of possible violence. Meadows refuses to speak to the House committee.
Before confirming that she was speaking to the commission, CNN previously reported that Hutchinson had replaced her attorney, who had close ties to Trump in preparation for her testimony. CNN also reported that Hutchinson is increasingly aware of the safety risk when speaking to the committee and is alert.
CNN’s Pamela Brown contributed to this report.
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