A former Trump White House aide testified to the Jan. 6 committee that Donald Trump’s allies pressured her to risk a contempt of Congress charge instead of cooperating with the committee. The detail emerged Thursday, when the committee released transcripts from two of Cassidy Hutchinson’s depositions in September. “I’m f***ed,” Hutchinson recalled telling her mom just before her first interview with the committee. “‘I am completely indebted to these people,’ and I was like, ‘And they will ruin my life, Mom, if I do anything they don’t want me to do.’” Hutchinson testified that she reached her “breaking point” in June when Trump-aligned lawyer Stefan Passantino asked her not to speak to the committee anymore, saying that “contempt is a small risk, but running to the right is better for you.” Hutchinson said she felt scared because “Trump was looking over my shoulder,” and she felt he’d ruin her life and career if he found her to be disloyal. Hutchinson ended up giving bombshell public testimony about Trump strangling a Secret Service agent who refused to take him to the Capitol mid-riot.
