# Stefan Passantino **Stefan Passantino** is a Republican political-law attorney who served as Trump's White House ethics lawyer and later represented [[Cassidy Hutchinson]] before the January 6 committee — the representation at the center of the committee's witness-coaching allegations. ## Career Passantino led the political-law practices at McKenna Long & Aldridge and then Dentons before serving as White House Deputy Counsel for compliance and ethics from January 2017 to August 2018. He then joined Michael Best & Friedrich. ## The Hutchinson transcripts Transcripts released by the committee on December 22, 2022 recorded Hutchinson saying Passantino told her "the less you remember, the better" and that "I don't recall" was an acceptable answer, and that he would not tell her who was paying her legal fees ("we're not telling people where funding is coming from right now"); she later learned the money came from Trump allies. The same transcripts record her saying "Stefan never told me to lie." Passantino said he represented her "honorably, ethically." Michael Best separated from him on December 28, 2022. ## Afterward The [[Trump Organization]] hired him in January 2023 for congressional matters. He sued over the committee's conduct in December 2023, and in October 2024 filed bar complaints against [[Liz Cheney]] and committee counsel Michael Teter. Wikipedia reports that D.C. and Georgia ethics panels dismissed complaints against him in March 2024. *[Single-sourced.]* By 2025 he was lobbying at Miller Strategies, [[Jeff Miller]]'s firm, which [[Skadden]] and Davis Polk hired in March 2025 for "government relations" as the White House targeted major law firms. **Current status:** Miller Strategies as of mid-2025; 2026 not verified. ## RWKB angle Passantino connects two Trump-era patterns: ally-funded counsel for key witnesses, and a lobbying market that grew up around the administration's pressure campaign on Big Law. ## See Also - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]] - [[Skadden]]