Trump Justice Department FAILS to secure indictment against former aide Cassidy Hutchinson

[0:01] We have some breaking news coming out of federal court in Washington, D.C., where a grand jury [0:05] has declined to indict former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. [0:10] You recall that a few weeks ago, we had reported that the Trump Justice Department was seeking [0:14] to indict Cassidy Hutchinson on charges of lying to Congress. [0:18] That case stemmed from her testimony before the January 6th Select Committee about an [0:23] incident involving Donald Trump in the Secret Service. [0:26] At no point did Cassidy Hutchinson claim in her testimony to have firsthand knowledge [0:30] of the events. [0:31] Let's bring in senior investigative reporter Carol Lennig. [0:34] Carol, tell us what you're learning. [0:37] So we've been watching this bouncing ball all day, and we're glad to be able to tell you, [0:42] of course, Nicole, and our viewers that we've learned and confirmed that the Justice Department's [0:50] Civil Rights Division tried and failed to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson today [0:56] in a grand jury in D.C. [0:58] This was happening bizarrely enough, this effort to indict her at the same time that the judge [1:06] receiving this report of a failed indictment was also holding a hearing on the alleged politicized [1:14] charges against two former FBI agents who were also targeted by the Trump administration. [1:21] So this series of events has been pretty unusual today in the D.C. [1:26] courthouse. [1:26] But again, another rebuke for the Justice Department as it seeks to go after people who were critical [1:35] of Donald Trump or sought to investigate him or raise questions about what he did on January [1:41] 6th. [1:42] You'll all remember her stunning testimony in that hearing, a surprise hearing, forgive [1:48] me, in which she claimed that Donald Trump was very carefree and callous about and disregarded [1:55] the violence that was unfolding that day on January 6th. [1:59] I want to ask two questions that may or may not be significant, but why is the Civil Rights [2:06] Division headed by Harmeet Dillon presenting before the grand jury and not the D.C. U.S. [2:12] Attorney's Office headed by Jeanine Pirro? [2:16] It is a curiosity that the Civil Rights Division is pursuing this at all. [2:21] You may be, viewers may be very aware that the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. has had a lot [2:30] of prosecutors resist cases that they believe are politically motivated. [2:34] But in this case, the Civil Rights Division, led by Harmeet Dillon, took this on quite willingly [2:40] and was seeking, initially anyway, a strange charge involving deprivation of constitutional [2:49] rights, or at least that was the theory of the case at one time. [2:53] We don't know whether that is what was presented today. [2:56] But that is very unusual for the Department of Justice when looking at alleged false statements, [3:02] which was the original claim about Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony. [3:08] As with Jim Comey yesterday, I think he came out and made a video and said, you know, oops, [3:14] I did it again. [3:15] I mean, is the campaign against Cassidy Hutchinson dead or just regrouping? [3:20] Well, a statement is supposed to be coming forthwith, and maybe that will give us some clues about [3:28] what the Department of Justice's long-term plans are here. [3:32] You know, it's true that with former Director Comey, the government just did not want to give [3:38] up and kept trying to bring cases. [3:42] The no true bill has been a problem for this Department of Justice. [3:46] And I think you know better than most anyone that a no true bill is exceptional in the history [3:57] of the Department of Justice, but it's becoming like mushrooms popping up all over the ground [4:05] in the Trump administration, in this second administration at least. [4:10] This Department of Justice has been plagued with a failure to be able to end. [4:15] Otherwise, grand juries are willing to indict a ham sandwich. [4:18] It's that easy, allegedly, because really it's the government alone making the presentation [4:23] of the facts. [4:24] But in this case, and in many, many others, grand juries are saying we don't buy it. [4:31] Miles Taylor, you are a target of Donald Trump's desire for retribution. [4:37] The earthquake that went off inside the Trump administration when this was the outcome, I think of a case [4:46] they tried to bring against Andy McCabe, Carolina can jump in if I have that wrong, [4:51] was sort of enough to not level set the Trump 1.0 Justice Department, but it didn't happen [4:58] with this frequency. [5:00] This has happened now with the six Democratic lawmakers. [5:02] Grand jury said, I don't think so. [5:05] This has happened with the reflecting pool cases. [5:08] This happens, it's been reported by the New York Times and others, as a Trump management tactic. [5:14] They bring these garbage cases, knowing in some instances that they will not get an indictment [5:19] from a D.C. grand jury just to tell them that they tried. [5:22] What does it say that Harmeet Dillon's office is the office that's now willing to do it at all? [5:26] It really is historic in two ways, Nicole. [5:31] It's historic that you have a U.S. Department of Justice that continues to bring these very [5:37] obviously politicized cases. [5:40] They leaked that they were investigating Cassidy Hutchinson trying to find something before [5:45] they had facts to lead them to something. [5:47] I mean, we see this, any American, any layperson sees this with James Comey, that they keep just [5:53] sifting through information in his past, trying to find a crime to pin him on. [5:57] It is historic that in the United States of America, we are seeing that go from a pattern [6:03] to just the way the U.S. Department of Justice is operating on high-profile cases. [6:08] I've experienced it. [6:09] Lots of people have experienced it. [6:11] Historic also that grand juries are refusing to indict. [6:15] As you noted, Mark Kelly and Jason Crowe and Alyssa Slotkin and Letitia James and now [6:20] Cassidy Hutchinson, they even in this most recent case around Jim Comey, they've so far [6:25] skipped the grand jury, which seems to be an admission that they're not sure that they [6:29] can secure an indictment. [6:30] And that gets to what me and Ambassador McFaul were talking about before the break, which [6:35] is that the American people, grand juries, ordinary Americans are saying enough. [6:41] This is not how the justice system is supposed to work. [6:45] And as Carol noted, even when the government has them sequestered in the room, giving them [6:49] one side of the story, they are looking back at those prosecutors and they are saying no. [6:54] Hey, it's Rachel. 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