In March, Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) issued a criminal referral against Cassidy Hutchinson, a development that flew under the radar. Before then-Attorney General Pam Bondi was dismissed, Hutchinson faced an investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Now, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has signed off on keeping her under scrutiny.
If you’re not familiar with Ms. Hutchinson, she is the individual who alleged that President Trump attempted to commandeer the Beast to go to the Capitol on January 6, among other unverified claims. She was a key witness for the so-called select committee – selected by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that is – investigating the events of that day, and her testimony only reinforced the impression that the situation was chaotic. However, she is not the only person on Blanche’s radar:
At Mr. Blanche’s urging, the Justice Department is moving ahead with investigations into several high-profile targets — including John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director who helped investigate Russian interference in Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Beyond Mr. Brennan, current and former officials say, Mr. Blanche has also given the green light to inquiries into Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who outraged Mr. Trump four years ago after she implicated him in the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; the Democratic fund-raising organization ActBlue over documented discrepancies in its screening of overseas donors; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights nonprofit in Alabama that was indicted this week over a discontinued program that paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist and extremist groups.
Moreover, prosecutors plan to revive a botched attempt to bring charges against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, after a federal judge threw out charges last year that Mr. Comey had lied to Congress, the people said. It is not clear what they are investigating this time.
And they are soon expected to subpoena bodyguards who protected Fani Willis, the state prosecutor who brought criminal charges against Mr. Trump in Georgia, possibly in connection with an investigation into her government-funded travel, one of the people said.
Here’s hoping we get somewhere this time. Supporters of the president who have wanted some payback against all of those who plotted to overthrow him have been waiting for a long time.