Trump supports House Republicans’ accusation that Liz Cheney tampered with the January 6 committee witness

Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee, suggests in a new report that former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney should be investigated for alleged witness tampering by the 6th Committee, which oversaw the attack by a pro-Trump mob on the US Capitol investigated.

President-elect Donald Trump posted on his social media platform early Wednesday morning that “Liz Cheney could be in big trouble based on evidence received from the subcommittee that Liz Cheney likely violated numerous federal laws, and this.” Violations should be investigated by the FBI.”

Earlier this month, Trump said of the Jan. 6 committee members on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Frankly, they should go to jail for what they did.”

The House GOP report released Tuesday represents not only the latest attempt by House Republicans to discredit the Jan. 6 committee, but also a possible preview of its oversight efforts in the next session of Congress, which begins in January.

Cheney’s name appears more than 120 times in the report, excluding the table of contents, denouncing line after line her participation as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee.

“Without authority and in violation of House rules – the role of the ranking member – Congress itself must right its past wrongs and now invalidate this appointment of Representative Cheney,” the report said.

The report alleges that when Cheney joined the investigation, she worked with Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump’s former White House adviser, over her testimony describing then-President Trump’s efforts to control the 2020 presidential election to tilt.

The report alleges that in addition to using Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House aide and host of ABC’s “The View,” Cheney “back-channeled” Hutchinson to her narrative change, but also communicated with her “directly for days.” Afterwards, the report says, Cheney also convinced Hutchinson to fire her lawyer, Stefan Passantino.

“According to text messages apparently from the encrypted messaging app Signal between Hutchinson and Farah Griffin obtained by the subcommittee, Cheney agreed to communicate with Hutchinson about Farah Griffin,” the subcommittee said.

“It is unusual – and potentially unethical – for a member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the member knows that the person is represented by legal counsel,” the report said. “This appears to be exactly what Representative Cheney was doing at the time, and within days of these secret conversations, Hutchinson retracted her earlier testimony and made her most outlandish claims.”

“What other information was shared during these phone calls may never be known, but what is known is that Rep. Cheney consciously attempted to minimize her contact with Hutchinson in her book and the most likely reason for the attempt to disclose this information.” “Cheney knew it was inappropriate and unethical to communicate with Hutchinson without her attorney,” the report said.

“It is important to emphasize that Representative Cheney would likely have known at this point that her communications were unlawful and unethical without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s attorney,” the report said. Farah Griffin pointed this out…in her…message to Hutchinson…when she wrote that Rep. Cheney’s “only concern” was that she (Cheney) could not really act ethically as long as Hutchinson was acting through one “We are represented by counsel and speak to you (Hutchinson) without him (Passantino).” Despite Representative Cheney’s initial hesitation, the Subcommittee discovered evidence of frequent, direct conversations between Hutchinson and Representative Cheney without Passantino’s knowledge and also about her intermediary Farah Griffin.

Cheney responded in a statement, emphasizing that the testimony was “carefully” presented in the form of thousands of pages of transcripts and released alongside a “very detailed and carefully sourced 800-page report.”

“Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘interim report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s enormous burden of evidence and instead fabricates lies and defamatory accusations to cover up what Donald Trump has done,” Cheney wrote. “Your allegations do not reflect an examination of the actual evidence and are a malicious and cowardly attack on the truth.”

Cheney also did not abandon her role and the committee’s findings.

“January 6 showed Donald Trump who (he) really is – a cruel and vengeful man who allowed violent attacks against our Capitol and law enforcement officers to continue while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and to leave.” she noted. “The committee’s January 6 hearings and report featured numerous Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, his campaign and his administration.”

Farah Griffin also disputed the GOP report’s conclusions.

“This report is riddled with inaccuracies and innuendo,” she said in a statement. “The report falsely states – and without any evidence – that I acted as an intermediary between Cassidy Hutchinson and Liz Cheney for “a month.” This is not true and these messages demonstrate the full extent of my involvement. Furthermore, these messages were “not ‘received’ by the committee” – they were requested by the committee and voluntarily given to the committee. I believe in congressional oversight, whether it’s the January 6th investigation or this investigation.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to January 6th.