Cassidy Hutchinson (left), Rudy Giuliani.Photo:Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty; Rob Kim/Getty
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty; Rob Kim/Getty
Former White House aideCassidy Hutchinsonalleges that, shortly before a mob ofDonald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in what would become a deadly scene on Jan. 6., 2021, the president’s attorneyRudy Giulianigroped her beneath her skirt while claiming the administration would find a way to stay in power.
Hutchinson — a loyal staffer in the Trump administration who at 23 was handpicked to serve as White House chief of staffMark Meadows' right hand — made headlines in June 2022, when she stood before the House committee investigating theJan. 6 Capitol riotand testified about shocking behavior she witnessed in the White House.
Cassidy Hutchinson testifies before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on June 28, 2022.J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
In the book,The Guardianreported, Hutchinson writes that she saw Giuliani on Jan. 6 standing in the back of a tent with another Trump attorney, John Eastman.
“The corners of his mouth split into a Cheshire cat smile. Waving a stack of documents, he moves towards me, like a wolf closing in on its prey," Hutchinson writes of Giuliani, saying that he claimed he was holding evidence that Trump won the election.
She continues: “Rudy wraps one arm around my body, closing the space that was separating us. I feel his stack of documents press into the small of my back. I lower my eyes and watch his free hand reach for the hem of my blazer."
“‘By the way,’ he says, fingering the fabric, ‘I’m loving this leather jacket on you.’ His hand slips under my blazer, then my skirt,” Hutchinson alleges. “I feel his frozen fingers trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced. My eyes dart to John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin."
“I fight against the tension in my muscles and recoil from Rudy’s grip … filled with rage, I storm through the tent, on yet another quest for Mark," the excerpt concludes.
Rudy Giuliani speaks at a rally on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021 — the same morning that Cassidy Hutchinson alleges he groped her.Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty
When asked to comment on the allegations against Giuliani, his political adviser Ted Goodman told PEOPLE: “It’s fair to ask Cassidy Hutchinson why she is just now coming out with these allegations from two and a half years ago, as part of the marketing campaign for her upcoming book release.”
Giuliani is currently embroiled ina lawsuit from a former staffer who claims he forced her to have oral sex and intercourse and is alsoone of 19 people recently chargedin a sprawling, 98-page indictment from Georgia prosecutors that detailed an alleged attempt to undermine the will of American voters. He has been charged with 13 felony counts in that case, including racketeering (violating the Georgia RICO Act) and false statements and writings.
Giuliani also faces disbarment for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Eastman’s personal lawyer, Charles Burnham, responded to the allegation that his client witnessed Giuliani grope Hutchinson in a statement shared with PEOPLE on Wednesday.
“Dr. Eastman categorically denies the allegation that he witnessed the conduct Ms. Hutchinson apparently attributes to Mayor Giuliani in her forthcoming book, or that he ‘flash[ed] a leering smile’ at Ms. Hutchinson at that time or at any time,” Burnham wrote. “He does not recall ever having met Ms. Hutchinson, and did not even know who she was until her public testimony before the Select Committee in the House of Representatives in June 2022. Dr. Eastman is considering defamation litigation against those responsible for making or publishing these libelous allegations.”
Addressing her book on the whole in recent conversation with PEOPLE, Hutchinson says she isn’t scared to hold Trump and his allies accountable — even if they push back against the allegations.
She continues: “And if somebody wants to attack the way that they come off in the book, I’m not going to hold myself responsible for what they may say about the way that they’re framed, because I’m holding them accountable to their own actions.”
Simon and Schuster
Hutchinson’s 2022 testimony made her a polarizing public figure overnight, particularly as she sharedcolorful details about life in the White House, and alleged that Trump physically assaulted a Secret Service officer and flew into fits of rage during which he would throw plates of food at the wall.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Hutchinson — who is a Republican — now reveals that she battled internally with whether to defend the administration for which she’d worked so closely, or to follow her conscience.
“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 says in the exclusive interview. “But it was a small price to pay in exchange for living the rest of my life in this aura of dishonesty and inauthenticity.”
source: people.com
