Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, said in a new book that she was groped by then-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani at an event on Jan. 6, 2021.
In excerpts of her book “Enough,” set to be released next week, Hutchinson said Giuliani was “like a wolf closing in on its prey” when she met with him backstage while President Donald Trump delivered remarks to his supporters at the Ellipse near the White House shortly before the Capitol riot.
The excerpts were first reported by The Guardian. NBC News has not obtained a copy of the book, but a person familiar with the book confirmed that the quotes published by The Guardian were accurate.
Hutchinson, 27, alleges Giuliani, a prominent promoter of Trump’s stolen election lies, had approached her with a stack of documents before reaching his hand “under my blazer, then my skirt.” She then describes recoiling as “his frozen fingers trail up my thigh,” The Guardian reported.
“‘We have the evidence. It’s all here. We’re going to pull this off.’ 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 wrote, according to The Guardian.
Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, called Hutchinson’s allegations “a disgusting lie.”
“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,” Goodman said in a statement. “This is a disgusting lie against Mayor Rudy Giuliani—a man whose distinguished career in public service includes taking down the Mafia, cleaning up New York City and comforting the nation following September 11th.”
When reached for comment, Hutchinson’s publisher Simon and Schuster said in a statement: “We stand behind our author and her book.”
NBC News was unable to contact Hutchinson directly.
Hutchinson was a key witness during the House Jan. 6 committee’s hearings investigating the Capitol attack. Her explosive public testimony included descriptions of a president filled with rage on Jan. 6, saying she’d been told Trump tried to grab the steering wheel inside an armored SUV and lunged toward his security detail when he learned that he would not be taken to the Capitol where a mob of his supporters was gathering. Her account drew scrutiny after sources said a pair of witnesses could testify under oath that the incident had not occurred.
Trump largely dismissed and denied her testimony on his Truth Social platform.
Hutchinson’s allegations against Giuliani, 79, come as the former New York mayor faces mounting legal woes, including a lawsuit filed by Noelle Dunphy, who said Giuliani harassed her and discussed the selling of presidential pardons after he hired her in 2019. Giuliani has denied her claims.
Last month, a federal judge found Giuliani liable for defaming two election workers in boosting Trump’s stolen election claims.
He was also charged alongside Trump and 18 others in the Georgia election interference case, where all the defendants have pleaded not guilty.