Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide in Donald Trump’s White House who testified about the administration’s behavior surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, is sworn-in as she testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee on the January 6th insurrection in the Cannon House Office Building on June 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan committee, which has been gathering evidence for almost a year related to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, is presenting its findings in a series of televised hearings. On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building during an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for President Joe Biden.

Some of the most riveting testimony during theHouse committee hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riotcame viaCassidy Hutchinson, who testified in a live hearing on June 28, 2022, about shocking behavior she witnessed as an aide in PresidentDonald Trump’s White House.

Hutchinson, 25 years old at the time, was a surprise guest whose pre-recorded depositions had beenpreviewed during earlier hearings. Herlive testimony(announced just 24 hours prior) offered a slew of bombshells, including allegations that the former president physically assaulted a Secret Service officer in an effort to get to the Capitol himself on Jan. 6, and that Trump was known to throw plates of food at the walls in fits of rage.

Here’s more about Hutchinson and how her life changed after the testimony.

She Worked for a Number of High-Ranking Republicans Early On in Her Career

Originally from Pennington, New Jersey, Hutchinson majored in political science at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.

Her first Capitol internship was for then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise in the summer of 2017 (it was during her internship that Scalise wasshot and nearly killed while practicing for a charity GOP baseball game.)

Later that summer, Hutchinson took another internship, this time in the office of Texas Sen.Ted Cruz.

Before her senior year of college, Hutchinson joined the Trump administration as an intern in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. After she graduated, she accepted a full-time job there, serving as a liaison between the White House and Congress.

Cassidy Hutchinson walks past the White House Rose Garden on April 4, 2020, with top Republican officials (from left: Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan).Tia Dufour/The White House

Cassidy Hutchson insert photo from her book Enough. From left: Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and Cassidy Hutchinson, White House Collonade. The White House, April 4, 2020.

Tia Dufour/The White House

She Rose Through the Ranks of the Trump Administration at a Young Age

“I didn’t agree with everything the administration was doing, but I saw it as an opportunity to serve my country and to serve the president,” Hutchinson told PEOPLE in a September 2023 interview.

As a top aide to Meadows — who has since beenindicted in Georgiafor his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the election in Trump’s favor — she was in close proximity to Trump and his most loyal allies.

Cassidy Hutchinson.House Select Committee via AP

This exhibit from video released by the House Select Committee, shows Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, displayed at a hearing by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, June 23, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)

She Offered Startling Revelations During Live Testimony Delivered Before the Jan. 6 Committee

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot originally aired video footage of an early deposition from Hutchinson, in which she testified thatseveral Republican members of Congress sought a blanket pardonfor their involvement in the former president’s attempts to overturn his defeat.

In the pre-recorded testimony, Hutchinson alleged that Reps.Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs,Louie GohmertandScott Perryhad contacted the White House to inquire about securing pardons. Perry, she alleged, wanted environmental lawyerJeffrey Clark— anow-indictedally of Trump — to take over the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to help overturn the election in Trump’s favor.

Hutchinson also testified to the committee that shesaw Meadows burn documentsin his office after meeting with Perry.

Cassidy Hutchinson testifies live before the Jan. 6 House committee, as Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney look on.J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., listen as Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

But it was her live testimony that would offer the most startling bombshells about the Trump administration.

In it, Hutchinson claimed that she hadn’t told the entire truth in earlier depositions, and hadfalsely testified on the advice of a Trump-affiliated lawyer.

She said she sought new counsel with no strings attached and had a second chance to testify on her own terms, telling the House select committee that Trump knew there were armed supporters in Washington on Jan. 6 and that he urged them on anyway, evenphysically assaulting a Secret Service agentwhen his request to meet his supporters at the Capitol was denied.

In her live testimony, Hutchinson further alleged that both her own former boss, Meadows, and Trump attorneyRudy Giulianisought presidential pardons following the events of Jan. 6, and that the former president had been warned about using incendiary rhetoric prior to his speech urging supporters to “march” to the Capitol.

“I knew from the moment that I decided that I wanted and needed to come forward with the information that I had, that it would take a toll on my career,” she told PEOPLE, reflecting on her testimony. “But it was a small price to pay in exchange for living the rest of my life in this aura of dishonesty and inauthenticity that I didn’t want to be a part of any longer.”

Cassidy Hutchinson hugs Jan. 6 House committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney after testifying live on June 28, 2022.Brandon Bell/Getty

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, hugs U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney

Brandon Bell/Getty

Speaking to PEOPLE at the time, former White House communications directorAlyssa Farah Griffinsaid Hutchinson was “doing remarkably well,” adding: “I think she went into it with open eyes.”

And while Hutchinson remained largely out of the limelight, she reentered the public sphere in September 2023 with the debut of a memoirEnough.

“I want people to know that I didn’t just arrive at that moment of testifying,” Hutchinson told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview ahead of the book’s Sept. 26 publication. “It was hard in a lot of ways to get to that place. And it was hard afterward too.”

Cassidy Hutchinson and her dog George in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 17, 2023.Candace Dane Chambers

Cassidy Hutchinson in Washington DC, September 17, 2023. Her dog is named George.

Candace Dane Chambers

Though Hutchinson left D.C. for a while in the wake of her testimony, she is now back in the city, where she lives with a cockapoo named George.

“It doesn’t feel like the same city that I first arrived at and then eventually moved to, I think because of the perspective that I have now on how fragile our democracy actually is,” she told PEOPLE. “I still have faith in Washington, and I still want to be here, but it is difficult being here, especially after everything that transpired.”

While she is not currently working on the Hill, she still considers herself a Republican and hasn’t ruled out reentering politics in the future.

source: people.com