Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi connected White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with Trump allies and suggested there was a “great” job waiting for her after Hutchinson was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee, according to transcripts.
Bondi was just one of the Floridians featured in the committee’s transcripts and final report released late Thursday, along with U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and two Central Florida militia members.
Hutchinson testified that she was urged to reach out to Trump allies for legal representation following her subpoena from the committee. Her former White House colleague Liz Horning suggested she contact Bondi, who in turn told her to work with Susie Wiles, the Florida political operative who leads Trump’s Save America PAC.
“Do me a favor,” Bondi told her, according to Hutchinson. “This is Susie Wiles. She’s my best friend. She’s super sweet. She’s going to love you.”
Hutchinson recalled thinking that since Bondi, the head of another Trump PAC called Make America Great Again, was “involved with Trump’s PACs, I figured … there is some sort of operation here going on, they just want to make sure all their bases are covered.”
Former White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino was brought on as her attorney and urged her to “downplay her role, “the less you remember the better” and told her “we are going to take care of you.”
Later, Bondi let Hutchinson know her name was mentioned at a dinner with President Donald Trump in which a job with Matt Schlapp, head of the powerful American Conservative Union, had come up, according to testimony.
“Pam texted me that night and said something to the effect of: ‘Susie, Matt Schlapp, and I had dinner with POTUS at Mar-a-Lago tonight,” Hutchinson testified. “Call Matt next week. He has a job for you that we all think you’d be great at. ... You are the best. Keep up the good work. Love and miss you.’”
Hutchinson ultimately decided to cooperate with the committee, testifying as a star witness in June. Her eyewitness accounts included Secret Service agents talking about Trump angrily demanding to be taken to the Capitol.
Previous reports revealed that Gaetz, a Republican, had previously been seeking a pardon. But the Jan. 6 report reveals just how sweeping he wanted it to be.
Trump senior adviser Eric Herschmann testified Gaetz that “asked for a very, very broad pardon. ... And I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.”
Gaetz had been caught up in the case against Seminole County’s former tax collector, Joel Greenberg, and had been under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking. But reports indicate prosecutors have recommended not charging him because of the credibility of key witnesses against him, including Greenberg.
Two right-wing militia figures from Central Florida also appear frequently in the report.
Jeremy Liggett, of Longwood, was the leader of a Three Percenters offshoot called Florida Guardians of Freedom.
Liggett “posted a meme to Facebook stating that ‘3% Will Show In Record Numbers In DC’ and put out a ‘safety video’ instructing people that they could bring ‘an expandable metal baton, a walking cane and a folding knife’” to D.C. on Jan. 6, the report states.
Liggett corresponded with the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers militia group, Kelly Meggs of Marion County.
Meggs, along with Oath Keepers founder Stuart Rhodes, were convicted last month of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn President Biden’s election.
“I will have a ton of men with me,” Liggett messaged Meggs, who responded he’d been in touch with the Proud Boys and figured they could work together to “come up behind” law enforcement and “crush them for good.”
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