Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson says she didn't recognize NBA icon Charles Barkley after he thanked her for testifying

• Hutchinson was approached by Charles Barkley but was unaware of his identity, per her new book.
• The ex-WH aide wrote that Barkley spoke to her and her two lawyers after her bombshell testimony.

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson admits that her knowledge of basketball greats might be rather terrible.

When Hutchinson stepped in front the cameras during her testimony in front of the House January 6 panel, she vaulted from the confines of GOP politics to a national figure speaking about one of the most trying days in US history.

In Hutchinson's memoir, "Enough," which was released on Tuesday, she recalled an incident in Atlanta when she said she was commended by former NBA player Charles Barkley — one of the biggest basketball stars of the 1980s and 1990s — but was unfamiliar with his identity.

Hutchinson had arrived in Atlanta to speak with the Fulton County grand jury regarding Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, which he narrowly lost to now-President Joe Biden.

While at a hotel bar in the city, Hutchinson recounted that her face "burned hot" when her attorneys, Bill Jordan and Jody Hunt, spoke to a figure who appeared to know them well.

"So, who was that?" she asked Jordan and Hunt, with the pair puzzled by her question.

"The guy that just thanked you for testifying and praised your courage?" Jordan said, before looking at Hunt and laughing.

"Cassidy, you're trying to tell us you don't know who Charles Barkley is?!" Hunt asked, according to Hutchinson.

"They explained, and I had to admit I'd never heard of the basketball legend," she wrote. "'You're embarrassing me,' I said. 'Stop embarrassing me! You two know better than anyone that I can't lie to save my life!'"

"This time, we all laughed together," she added.