“This witness provided credible testimony under oath, attributing foreknowledge of the impending violence to the president,” said Laufman, who represents some of the U.S. Capitol Police officers injured in the Jan. 6 attack. “Whether at the end of the day the department can conclude it can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump joined a conspiracy remains to be seen, because there may well be an extraordinarily high bar for prosecutors and department leadership to satisfy that standard.”…

Mariotti, now a lawyer in Chicago, said he doubted Hutchinson’s testimony advances any potential case against Trump for seditious conspiracy, the charge levied against some members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups in connection with the riot. But her testimony could put federal prosecutors closer to reaching the high legal bar required for charging someone with incitement to violence, he said.

“This testimony made it plausible that the Justice Department might find sufficient evidence that Trump knew his crowd would immediately break the law, a legal standard known as ‘imminent lawless action.’ I think there’s enough there,” Mariotti said. “But I still think there’s work for the prosecutors to do to prove what active steps he took. Today’s testimony did not speak to whether or not he conspired with others to storm the Capitol, but it’s certainly very significant.”