A U.S. House committee has called for a federal criminal investigation into former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, accusing her of “criminal witness tampering” when she was vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On Tuesday, the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight issued an interim report calling for the Justice Department to investigate Cheney’s communications with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-President Donald Trump.
The report issued by the Republican-led committee found that Cheney and Hutchinson communicated via the encrypted Signal app before Hutchinson’s explosive 2022 testimony to the House Select Committee.
The referral comes as Trump is set to take over the White House on Jan. 20.
“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,” the report from chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, says.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman told Cowboy State Daily the findings of the report aren't surprising.
“We already knew Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony was fabricated and had been debunked at the time she gave it," Hageman said. "However, the uniparty and mainstream media were determined to convince the American public to believe her lies and those told by Liz Cheney.”
Why It Matters
Loudermilk said the pair’s communication was improper and likely violated federal law. He argues that the communication was outside the legislative process and not protected by the Speech and Debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Former Rep. Liz Cheney should be investigated for potential criminal witness tampering based on the new information about her communication,” Loudermilk said in a press release.
Cheney and Hutchinson used Signal to send messages to arrange calls over this same app, allegedly without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s attorney, who was hired by the Trump campaign.
“It is unusual — and potentially unethical — for a member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the member knows that the individual is represented by legal counsel,” the report says. “Representative Cheney is an attorney, and an attorney who circumvents an individual’s legal representation would violate well-established attorney ethics standards and the Washington, D.C., Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, regardless of who initiates the contact.”
State Sen.-elect Darin Smith, R-Cheyenne, an attorney who ran a short-lived campaign against Cheney in 2021, said the only people who perform witness tampering are those who are corrupt and think of themselves as above the law.
“It’s a wildly egregious act to perform in any court, whether it’s circuit court, a district court or even the Supreme Court,” Smith told Cowboy State Daily. “The tampering of witnesses is absolutely unheard of within the attorney profession and just shows how intellectually dishonest the Cheneys really are.”
Cheney Calls Allegations ‘Lies’
However, Cheney made these communications as a member of Congress, not as an attorney.
Cheney told Fox News on Tuesday afternoon that Loudermilk's report "intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence."
"Jan. 6th showed Donald Trump for who [he] really is — a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave," Cheney said in comment to Fox News Digital.
"The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and administration,” she said. “All of this testimony was painstakingly set out in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public along with a highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800-page report.
“Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously."
During the committee hearings in 2022, Cheney also specifically spoke against witness tampering during the committee hearings multiple times, which Smith said he now finds highly ironic.
“The irony is it just reeks to high heaven,” he said. “She tries to paint herself as upholding the Constitution and the rule of law and this Joan of Arc character fighting against the world.”
Changing Stories And Attorneys
Cheney also denied advising Hutchinson in her 2023 memoir, saying the committee did not want to advise Hutchinson on what to do next. Cheney said she passively waited for Hutchinson to fire her attorney and did not help her find a new one.
Hutchinson had a different account of Cheney’s role in these events in her 2023 book, saying that Cheney played a primary role in Hutchinson firing her attorney and provided her with a list of attorneys who would be more friendly toward her committee.
It’s unknown what the two talked about over the phone, but one message showed Hutchinson providing Cheney with a screenshot of her attorney’s suggestion that Hutchinson not cooperate with Cheney’s committee.
Twenty-two days later, Hutchinson spoke before the committee in an emergency public hearing that the Washington Post reported caused “unforced errors” and did not afford staff the “opportunity to thoroughly vet the line of questioning.”
In her account, Hutchinson claimed she had been told thirdhand Trump was so angry when Secret Service agents refused to take his motorcade to the Capitol on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot that he “lunged” for the steering wheel to take control of it.
This testimony ended up becoming a key highlight of the committee’s final report even though the driver later denied this story was true. Hutchinson’s name was mentioned at least 185 times in the report.
“Cassidy Hutchinson’s most outrageous claims lacked any evidence, and the Select Committee had knowledge that her claims were false when they publicly promoted her,” Loudermilk said in Tuesday’s press release.
Loudermilk’s report also said the FBI “must” investigate Cheney for violating a federal law prohibiting someone from trying to get someone to commit perjury.
It accuses Hutchinson of lying under oath to the committee and says the FBI must review what role Cheney played in “instigating Hutchinson to radically change her testimony.”
Hutchinson performed two under-oath testimonies with the committee and her attorney before doing a third interview without her attorney being there. She later went on live TV to speak before the panel. Following her second interview, Hutchinson’s narrative drastically changed.
The report also accuses Cheney of blaming the Capitol riot on Trump while minimizing the significance of national security failures that day in order to prevent Trump from getting reelected.
What Does It Mean?
Like the criminal referrals that Cheney’s committee made against Trump, the subcommittee’s recommendations for criminal investigation into Cheney hold no legal bearing.
Even if the Department of Justice decides to investigate Cheney, it does not mean any criminal charges will be filed.
But the report does give more ammunition to Trump’s appointed officials to go after Cheney should they so desire.
Last week, Trump said on “Meet The Press” that he will not direct his top law enforcement officials to go after Liz Cheney and members of the J6 Committee, but believes they “should go to jail.”
The report could also spur President Joe Biden to preemptively pardon Cheney, a consideration he was already giving earlier this month, according to Politico.
Other Findings
The report also found that the Jan. 6 committee failed to archive "as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts," despite a process for committee chairs to properly archive data, including interviews.
"As part of its investigation, the subcommittee learned that the Select Committee failed to archive or provide the subcommittee with any of its video recordings of witness interviews, as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts, more than one terabyte of digital data,” the report says. “Concerningly, of the documents that were archived, the Select Committee delivered more than 100 encrypted, password protected documents and never provided the passwords.
“It is unclear why the Select Committee chose only those documents to be shielded by password.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, chair of the Jan. 6 committee, responded to the report Tuesday in a comment to Fox.
"Here are the facts: 1. The Select Committee was properly constituted, as every court that heard challenges found,” he said. “2. The Select Committee followed all House Rules, and it did not withhold or destroy any record that was required to be archived.”
He also praised witnesses for their testimony, saying they “acted honorably and out of patriotic duty to the Constitution.”
Thompson added that Loudermilk failed to "find a single valid problem with the Select Committee’s work," that reflects what he said is an "inescapable conclusion."
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
