A House GOP subcommittee is pushing for ex-Congresswoman Liz Cheney to be investigated by the Justice Department for witness tampering in retaliation for her efforts on the January 6 probe.
In a report from the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Republican lawmakers led by Barry Loudermilk of Georgia argued that Cheney’s communications with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House official, violated the law because Hutchinson’s lawyer was supposedly unaware they were happening.
“Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge,” it reads. “This secret communication with a witness is improper and likely violates 18 U.S.C. 1512.”
Text messages through the encrypted Signal app uncovered by Loudermilk’s subcommittee show Cheney and Hutchinson communicating directly, as well as a separate prior conversation between Hutchinson and fellow Trumpland figure-turned-witness Alyssa Farah Griffin. Griffin, in her texts to Hutchinson, describes her own conversation with Cheney in which the congresswoman supposedly spoke approvingly about Hutchinson’s first round of testimony to the committee — and was interested in hearing more.
“She said she admires you, and can tell you want to do the right thing from your testimony,” Griffin wrote to Hutchinson in April of 2022.
Despite text messages from Griffin stating that Cheney’s “one concern” was that ethically, she couldn’t speak to Hutchinson without the latter’s attorney present, later text messages show Hutchinson reaching out to Cheney directly and asking for a phone call.
Loudermilk’s report does not specify about which section of the law Cheney’s communications with the former Trump White House aide were supposedly in violation. The law states that it’s illegal for anyone to threaten, coerce, mislead or otherwise push to alter witness testimony for any “official proceeding,” including congressional hearings, but even Loudermilk’s own press release does not accuse Cheney of doing so.
Instead, Loudermilk argues that Cheney and others on the January 6 investigative committee knew that Hutchinson planned to make “outrageous” and supposedly untrue claims — and knowing that, still promoted her testimony. He noted in his press release that Cheney’s memoir avoided mentioning her role in recommending new attorneys for Hutchinson, though Griffin’s own book did.
But it remains unclear if any of those actions constituted clear violations of the U.S. code, or merely crossed ethical boundaries.
Some legal experts have already cast doubt on that idea. Jonathan Turley, a conservative legal commentator cited by Republicans for his opposition to the impeachment of Donald Trump in 2021, wrote that “ethical proceedings are unlikely [for Cheney] after the disclosure of ex parte communications with former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson” even as he acknowledged that “the evidence seemingly contradicts public accounts of how Hutchinson decided to fire her counsel and change her testimony.”
He added: “As an investigating member of Congress, she had an institutional interest, if not a duty, to pursue witnesses.”
Hutchinson’s greatest revelation — which came after her first round of testimony — was disputed by Secret Service officials and other Trump aides: her insistence that Trump had lunged at an agent within a vehicle after being told he would not be driven to the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“Cheney had an ethical responsibility to only communicate with Hutchinson with her attorney present,” Loudermilk’s press release stated. “However, Hutchinson’s sensational testimony was essential to the Select Committee’s inquisition of President Trump. Thus, Cheney apparently defied her ethical responsibilities and communicated directly with Hutchinson behind [her attorney]’s back, encouraged her to fire [her attorney], and even assisted Hutchinson in obtaining new representation.”
The former congresswoman responded in a statement on Bluesky: “No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”
“Chairman Loudermilk’s interim report inteltionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremedous weight of evidence,” she continued, “and instead, fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did.”
“These allegations do not reflect a review of the evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth.”
Cheney left Congress at the beginning of 2023, having been targeted by President-elect Donald Trump as one of his chief enemies within the Republican Party. The Wyoming congresswoman faced a primary challenger, Harriet Hageman, who ran with Trump’s endorsement and defeated Cheney.
Her work involved co-chairing the committee that launched a months-long investigation into the January 6 attack on Congress that uncovered new details about the siege, including statements from Trump’s closest allies and advisors fretting nervously about the very likely prospect of violence breaking out in the days just prior.
The committee’s report also highlighted how the former president did little but watch news coverage for hours as some of his own family members and allies in Congress begged him to take more decisive action.
Trump, in the wake of the committee’s investigation, blamed congressional Democratic leaders for supposedly being unprepared; he has since vowed to pardon a number of those charged with crimes on the day of the attack.
