WASHINGTON – The Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) has released new evidence that indicates Cassidy Hutchinson knowingly provided false testimony to the Select Committee on January 6, regarding the origins of a handwritten note that was given to President Trump on January 6, 2021.
As first reported by Will Steakin with ABC News, the handwritten note was the draft for a proposed Tweet for President Trump to send advising rioters to leave the Capitol. The text read “ANYONE WHO ENTERED THE CAPITOL ILLEGALLY WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORITY SHOULD LEAVE IMMEDIATELY,” with the word ILLEGALLY scratched out.
During her public hearing on June 28, 2022, Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, that she personally wrote this note as the Presidents Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows and Eiric Herschmann, one of the President’s attorneys, dictated it to her. Her public testimony to this event was consistent with her first transcribed interview with the Select Committee on February 23, 2022.
However, immediately after Hutchinson’s public testimony regarding the note, Eric Herschmann immediately refuted her testimony and has maintained for years that he is the one who wrote the note.
During their investigation, the Select Committee never contacted Herschmann to confirm the authorship of this note or to ensure the accuracy of their “meticulously sourced” final report. As the Select Committee consistently did with all of Hutchinson’s testimonies, they accepted and promoted her claim without any corroboration or seeking other evidence to substantiate her testimony.
To resolve the controversy over who actually penned the controversial note, the Select Committee claimed to have reviewed Hutchinsons handwriting and determined her handwriting was “consistent with the script of the note.
To resolve the claims by both Hutchinson and Herschmann as being the one who penned the note, the Oversight Subcommittee retained an independent certified handwriting analyst to review the document. The Oversight Subcommittee obtained several samples of Mr. Herschmann’s handwriting which were used by Forensic Document Examiners to determine if the note was penned by Mr. Herschmann. After a thorough analysis, their certified handwriting analyst stated in the report that “the evidence supports my opinion that the handwriting that appears on the Questioned Document was written in the same hand as the exemplars” [Herschmann].
This new evidence contradicts Ms. Hutchinson’s multiple sworn testimonies in which she says penned the document.
Hutchinson testified under oath at her hearing on June 28, 2022, that she wrote this note, echoing the testimony from her first transcribed interview. She testified Mark Meadows dictated to her “illegally” and Eric Herschmann, one of the President’s attorneys, dictated “without proper authority” and Hutchinson wrote both.
In Hutchinsons’ book, “Enough,” she continued to assert that she wrote the proposed tweet for President Trump, claiming that Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, shoved a blank note card and pen in her hand and told her to “write this down for me. We’re drafting a tweet for the boss.”
Chairman Loudermilk said the following of the note:
“This new evidence provided by an independent, Certified Questioned Document Examiner, not only contradicts Ms. Hutchinson’s numerous claims that she penned the note, but also exposes the Select Committee’s willingness to accept all her testimonies without corroboration or further investigation.”
Background:
During the Select Committee’s professionally produced primetime televised hearing, Hutchinson was marketed as their surprise, “star witness.” Hutchinson testified under oath to several extraordinary events, including that President Trump lunged at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV and engaged in a physical altercation with his lead Secret Service agent after being told they were not going to the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Select Committee eagerly accepted her testimony as fact without any verification, corroboration or further investigation.
Our Subcommittee’s “Initial Findings Report” released in March shows that four other White House employees did not corroborate Hutchinson’s dramatic account, and instead directly refuted it. The Select Committee was in possession of these accounts but chose to hide them, and instead promoted Hutchinson’s scandalous narrative. Since that report, our Subcommittee has obtained the transcribed interviews of the Secret Service Agents, including the driver of the SUV, who refuted Hutchinson’s testimonies.
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