After the pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, a number of White House officials decided to resign from their posts. According to the Wall Street Journal, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was the first to resign on January 7, telling President Trump in her resignation letter, "There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me." Other officials soon followed, including Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger, and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.

However, some Trump officials decided to stay on the job until Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021. These included Cassidy Hutchinson as well as her boss, Mark Meadows. Hutchinson, like some of the others who remained at the White House, saw it as her responsibility to help "maintain protocols," CNN reported. In retrospect, Hutchinson also described herself as a "loyal foot soldier" of President Donald Trump.

Whether Hutchinson did the right thing by staying at her job or not could arguably be judged by future historians, though judgment from the public came much sooner.