Republicans Are Worried About Exposing Explicit Text Messages Sent to Cassidy Hutchinson

The Trump era is still just a few days old, but the news stories coming out of it keep getting wilder and wilder. According to reporting in The Washington Post, there are some in the House of Representatives who are concerned about sexually explicit text messages that were sent to former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

Following the revelation that these text messages exist, many wanted to better understand what's in them, and why so many Republicans in the House seem determined to prevent them from coming out. Here's what we know.

According to the reporting, aides to Mike Johnson urged against subpoenaing Hutchinson as a witness in hearings about Jan. 6, 2021, in order to avoid the release of "sexually explicit” texts GOP lawmakers reportedly sent to her. During the Jan. 6 committee hearings in 2022, Hutchinson gave explosive testimony about Trump's behavior leading up to and during the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

House Republicans are already making plans to seek retribution for those hearings, which seemed to reveal the complicity of President Trump and many in his inner circle in the events of Jan. 6. Hutchinson would be one of the targets for that retribution, but it appears that she might be somewhat insulated because of these text messages, which the reporting says came from more than one lawmaker.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican from Georgia, was the first to suggest that they subpoena Hutchinson, but he was apparently talked out of the idea by his colleagues after he was told that “sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors” with Hutchinson and other “embarrassing information" would be released. Loudermilk apparently still plans to move forward with subpoenaing at least some witnesses, though, although it's unclear whether that includes Hutchinson.

Hutchinson remains a Republican, but spoke out about what she claims to have witnessed in the days before Jan. 6, and on the day itself. It was Hutchinson who claimed that Trump lunged for the wheel of his limousine, threw a plate across a room, and tried to attack a Secret Service agent in the days leading up to the attack. Hutchinson released a book the year after her testimony that focused on her time in the White House.

“Ms. Hutchinson has testified truthfully and stands behind every word despite the efforts of men in powerful positions to attack her,” her lawyer, Bill Jordan, told The Washington Post.

While we don't know exactly what was in those texts, it seems that they were embarrassing enough to have some in the GOP concerned.

It's unclear whether those text messages will ever come to light. Given how forthcoming Hutchinson has been about bad behavior in her own party to date, though, it's possible that she could release them voluntarily. What seems unlikely, at least for now, is that the GOP will subpoena her and force their release.