U.S. Politics · Courts · 26 outlets (L 7 · C 10 · R 8 · 1 not rated)
Grand jury declines to indict Cassidy Hutchinson over Jan. 6 testimony
A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson over her 2022 testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee, according to multiple outlets.[8, 10, 20+1] Prosecutors had sought charges based on claims she made false statements, and the DOJ's Civil Rights Division presented the case to the grand jury.[1, 25]
Several outlets reported the failed indictment as a setback for the Justice Department's efforts to prosecute people President Trump believes have wronged him.[7, 9, 14+1] The Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment.[17]
Why it matters The rejection is another failed indictment for federal prosecutors pursuing cases against President Trump's perceived adversaries.[9, 13, 14]
Covered by The New York Times, NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and 23 more
Of the 25 rated outlets that covered it, 7 are left of center, 10 are center and 8 are right of center (5 of them in the Right group). 1 more is not rated.
Left 7 of 42
Center 10 of 33
Right 8 of 38
← LeftCenter outlets covered it most (C 10 · L 7 · R 8)Right →
Where the outlets sit
0Left7Leans left10Center3Leans right5Right
Left: none.
Leans left: The New Republic (−1.09), Raw Story (−0.94), Talking Points Memo (−0.78), MS NOW (−0.76), The New York Times (−0.70), The Guardian (−0.70), The Daily Beast (−0.64).
Center: NBC News (−0.49), PBS NewsHour (−0.48), ABC News (−0.19), CBS News (−0.14), Axios (−0.05), Mediaite (+0.04), Yahoo News (+0.07), The Hill (+0.10), UPI (+0.17), CNBC (+0.40).
Leans right: The Wall Street Journal (+0.63), New York Post (+0.64), Reason (+0.94).
Right: The Washington Times (+1.27), Washington Examiner (+1.34), Fox News (+1.52), IJR (+1.52), Breitbart (+2.03).
Not rated Los Angeles Times. Not placed: they have no lean score.
Each dot is an outlet that covered it, placed by its audience-lean score (Eady et al. 2025), which measures who shares its links, not how accurate it is. The ticks under the line are all 113 rated outlets Tare reads.
On Oct. 27, 2026, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., declined to return an indictment against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, over her 2022 testimony to the House select committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. People familiar with the matter said prosecutors had asked the panel to charge her with making false statements to Congress. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division presented the case. The department did not immediately comment. Hutchinson has said she stands by her testimony. It is not clear whether prosecutors will try again.[5, 7, 16, 20]
Background
Hutchinson was a prominent witness at a June 2022 hearing. She described Trump as wanting magnetometers removed so armed supporters could attend a rally, and she recounted a secondhand account that he grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle when Secret Service would not take him to the Capitol. Trump denied the accounts and called her a “total phony.” Other White House employees did not corroborate the vehicle incident. Republicans had accused her of lying under oath. Former special counsel Jack Smith later treated much of her account as hearsay and did not use her as a material witness in his election case, which was dismissed after Trump’s 2024 win.[5, 7, 16]
How the coverage differs
Left-leaning outlets such as The Guardian framed the vote as another setback in efforts to charge perceived adversaries of Trump and recalled Hutchinson’s testimony as dramatic though disputed. Center outlets such as ABC News reported the failed bid for lying-to-Congress charges, noted Trump’s longstanding accusations, and said critics call related prosecutions a campaign of retribution; ABC also cited Jack Smith’s hearsay assessment. Right-leaning outlets such as Fox News and the Washington Examiner stressed that the alleged lies concerned disputed secondhand details, that other witnesses challenged the vehicle story, and that a no-bill does not prove the testimony true or false. Fox noted prosecutors might try again; the Examiner named the Civil Rights Division as presenting the case.[5, 7, 16, 20]
What's still unclear
The precise false-statement allegations presented to the grand jury have not been made public. Whether the department will present the case again is unknown. Hutchinson could not immediately be reached, according to ABC. No official court filing describing the vote was cited in the reports.[5, 7, 16]
Written by Grok from the full articles, at a reader's request. AI can get details wrong; check the sources.
