Cassidy Hutchinson, the woman who testified in the Jan. 6 hearings, apparently had a different view of the whole debacle prior to making headlines with her bizarre testimony.
According to JustTheNews, her former lawyer, Stefan Passantino, filed a lawsuit arguing that Hutchinson initially disagreed with the Jan. 6 hearings, and did not want to testify, "and appeared to prepare to leak information about the committee’s proceedings to the media independently of her lawyer."
The situation undermines the honesty of Hutchinson's testimony both behind closed doors and in front of television cameras.
JustTheNews noted:
These texts date to shortly before her first closed door interview before the special committee investigating the January 6 riot and long before she amended her account of events after jettisoning her first lawyer, Stefan Passantino, who she alleged had pressured her to stay “loyal” to President Trump.
Passantino filed the lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann—an MSNBC legal analyst.
The attorney argued that Weissmann, a former prosecutor and deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, "publicly impugned [Passantino’s reputation], claiming that Mr. Passantino coached his client, Cassidy Hutchinson, to lie in congressional testimony."
In making this claim against Passantino, MSNBC's Weissmann may have triggered the “per se” defamation standard twice. The allegation that Passantino told his client to lie would not only constitute criminal conduct but also unethical professional conduct. https://t.co/p0bY1RNt2y
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 4, 2023
In the lawsuit, Passantino held nothing back in his accusations against Weissmann.
"This is an insidious lie," his lawsuit reads. "Mr. Passantino never coached Ms. Hutchinson to lie, nor did he attempt to shape her testimony in any way."
The texts, part of the lawsuit's evidence, showed Hutchinson was not on board with the idea of complying with the Jan. 6 Committee's hearings, which many claim were made-for-TV.
"Like how on earth are they doing this to you," an unidentified person asked Hutchinson in a text message.
She replied, "I don’t know. But I don’t want to comply. Stefan wants me to comply."
"I’m on a high timeline and just trying to figure out what my options are to deal with this bs," Hutchinson said in another text after discussing the possibility of leaking the information in a separate report to the media.
JustTheNews explained:
These text messages undercut one of Hutchinson’s stated motivations for amending her account of events on January 6, that her lawyer’s pressure to stay “loyal” to Trump colored her testimony.
