Cassidy Hutchinson's Full Bombshell Testimony Released: 'They Will Ruin My Life, Mom'
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Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty; Brandon Bell/Getty Donald Trump, Cassidy Hutchinson
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson made headlines earlier this year with her shocking public testimony about Donald Trump before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
But Hutchinson said even more behind closed doors, sitting for hours of recorded depositions ahead of the televised hearing.
On Thursday, the committee released hundreds of pages of Hutchinson's testimony, offering a deeper look at how Trump allies initially tried to find and pay for Hutchinson's legal counsel and eventually turned on her once she gave her public testimony.
Below, the biggest bombshells from the newly released testimony.
House Select Committee via AP Cassidy Hutchinson
Trump Allies Attempted to Help Hutchinson Secure Legal Counsel, but Wouldn't Tell Her How It Was Being Paid For
In her testimony, Hutchinson told the committee about how some of Trump's allies were seemingly trying to "bring me back into Trump world" once she had been subpoenaed.
One of those allies, attorney Liz Horning, who works for the law firm of former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, was close with Hutchinson throughout her time in the White House, even meeting her for dinner ahead of her testimony, Hutchinson testified.
But once a press release came out noting that an "unnamed witness" would be giving live testimony in the case, which would be broadcast on television, Horning's demeanor toward Hutchinson reportedly shifted.
"The last text that I ever received from Liz Horning was the day before my live testimony when there was a press release about there being an 'unnamed witness,'" Hutcinson said. "And she sent me a text message and ... I believe it said, 'Please tell me you're not the effing witness tomorrow.'"
While Hutchinson said she initially thought Horning was merely expressing concern, she told the committee that, looking back, "I think that there were people in Trump world who were a little more worried about me being forthcoming with the committee because of the access and insight that I had into what was happening throughout these months, and I also was somebody that was sort of untethered to Trump world at this time."
Stefani Reynolds/getty Cassidy Hutchinson
Horning, Hutchinson testified, also attempted to work with others in Trump's orbit to get her legal bills paid for.
But once she met with attorney Stefan Passantino, who said he would work on her behalf pro bono, Hutchinson testified that she noticed a few "red flags." When she asked about signing an engagement agreement, the attorney, she said, told her: "No, no, no. We're not doing that. Don't worry."
And when she asked about how her counsel would be funded, the attorney told her, "If you want to know at the end, we'll let you know, but we're not telling people where funding is coming from right now. Don't worry, we're taking care of you."
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When Hutchinson later met with Passantino, she testified that he told her, "We're going to downplay your role. You were a secretary ... You really have nothing to do with any of this ... But the less you remember, the better."
As Hutchinson explains in her testimony, she was nervous about working with Trump-affiliated attorneys. "I don't like to categorize the world, the Trump world in this way, but in a lot of scenarios that I have been privy to, once you are looped in, especially financially with them, there sort of is no turning back."
Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock Kayleigh McEnany and Cassidy Hutchinson dance to 'YMCA' at a Trump 2020 rally
'We Don't Want to Go There'
Hutchinson testified that, after she told the attorney that she had heard Trump had tried to "strangle" one of the members of his security team in order to get to the Capitol on Jan. 6, the attorney told her not to repeat the story.
"Stefan said, 'No, no, no, no, no.' I remember he, like, sat back in his chair and he's like, 'No, no, no, no, no. We don't want to go there. We don't want to talk about that.'"
When Hutchinson worried that she could be asked about that moment while being questioned by the committee, she said the attorney told her, "They have no way of knowing that."
Passantino, Hutchinson testified, told her the goal with her testimony was to "get you in and get you out."
"Keep your answers short, sweet, and simple, seven words or less," Passantino said, per Hutchinson's testimony. "The less the committee thinks you know, the better, the quicker it's going to go. It's going to be painless. And then you're going to be taken care of. You're going to be done. It's going to be off your hands."
RELATED: Trump Attorney Allegedly Told Cassidy Hutchinson to Give Misleading Testimony to Jan. 6 Committee
Elsewhere in her testimony, Hutchinson said Passantino, "never told me to lie. He specifically told me, 'I don't want you to perjure yourself, but I don't recall isn't perjury. They don't know what you can and can't recall.'"
It was on the morning of her first meeting with the committee, Hutchinson said, that Passantino mentioned he wanted to talk to her about some "job opportunities" in Trump's circle.
A Pressure Campaign and Worries About Being 'Completely Indebted' to Trump World
The meetings with Passantino did little to comfort Hutchinson, who testified about conversations she had with her parents about being subpoenaed.
Speaking to her mom, Hutchinson said she felt backed into a corner by working with a Trump-allied attorney and having her legal bills covered.
"[My mom] asked me, like, 'Aren't you really happy? Like, this is great. I'm so happy that, like, they connected you with someone.' And I rmember saying to her, like, kind of snarly laughing, saying, 'No, I'm f-----.'"
She continued: "I was like, 'No.. I am completely indebted to these people...And they will ruin my life, Mom, if I do anything that they don't want me to do."
RELATED: Rep. Liz Cheney Says She's 'Absolutely Confident' in Cassidy Hutchinson's Credibility amid Scrutiny
On the first day of her testimony before the committee, the pressure continued, she testified.
"To be completely frank, I was extremely nervous going into the first interview, for a multitude of reasons. You know, I felt like — I almost felt like at points Donald Trump was looking over my shoulder."
Later, when a brief about that initial testimony was publicly released, Hutchinson said she began to feel guilty. "I remember sitting there reading on my phone...glancing out the window, and I just kept thinking like, 'Oh my God, I became someone that I never thought I was going to become.'"
RELATED: Jan. 6 Committee Recommends Criminal Charges Against Donald Trump
Eventually, she met with the committee again, offering more details despite the earlier advice of her counsel, she testified. After her third meeting with the committee, in which she was much more candid than in prior testimonies, she got notice that a job offer from a Trump ally had been denied.
Later, she hired a new attorney after she says it became clear that Passantino "doesn't care about what I think is best for me, he's doing what he thinks is best for Trump and the people in Trump's orbit."
Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Video of then-President Trump leaving his Jan. 6, 2021 rally in a Secret Service SUV
'The President Could Have Tried to Strangle You on Jan. 6'
At one point in her testimony, Hutchinson describes a 20-minute conversation she had with former White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato, whom she said in her public testimony relayed to her the story of Trump physically assaulting a Secret Service officer in an effort to get to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Ornato, she told the committee, was trying to reassure her.
"And I remember when he hung up the phone, he said something to the effect of, 'All right, well, chin up, kid. Let's talk soon. It could be worse ... The President could have tried to strangle you on January 6th.' And I remember just laughing and being like, 'That's true. At least he didn't try to do that.'"
