House Republicans recommended disgraced ex-Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney face a criminal investigation related to “witness tampering” as vice chair of the illegally established and since disbanded Select Committee on Jan. 6.
Previous documents released by congressional investigators reviewing the Jan. 6 panel’s work revealed Cheney coordinated with the Select Committee’s star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, using the encrypted Signal app. The pair communicated to circumvent Hutchinson’s own attorney, Stefan Passantino, whom the Jan. 6 Committee ultimately targeted with an operation intended to strip him of his law license. Passantino was cleared of any misconduct following multiple investigations from ethics watchdogs.
In the House interim report released on Tuesday, GOP lawmakers led by Barry Loudermilk of Georgia cited Cheney’s communication with Hutchinson as a basis for referring the former congresswoman for a criminal investigation run by the Justice Department.
“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 House report read. “This secret communication with a witness is improper and likely violates 18 U.S.C. 1512. Such action is outside the due functioning of the legislative process and therefore not protected by the Speech and Debate clause.”
House investigators also demanded that the FBI launch a probe into Cheney for “procuring another person to commit perjury” based on Hutchinson’s sudden change in testimony following a change in legal counsel. Hutchinson terminated Passantino as her attorney just before appearing before the Jan. 6 Committee in a sensationalized television hearing where the ex-White House aide delivered her most outlandish claims related to former President Donald Trump.
Hutchinson went from a benign fact-witness without much to offer Jan. 6 investigators to claiming Trump had attempted to violently hijack the presidential limousine in order to drive himself to the Capitol and even agreed with demonstrators who chanted “hang Mike Pence” as the riot unfolded.
“It is noteworthy that the drastic change in Hutchinson’s story occurred after Representative Cheney directed Hutchinson to fire her attorney and hire counsel that Representative Cheney suggested,” Loudermilk’s report read. “Hutchinson did not think this incident was worth mentioning during the first two interviews, nor in conversation with her attorney, nor in conversation with her closest friends.”
While Hutchinson’s sources immediately contradicted her from the moment she stepped down from her public House hearing more than two years ago, Loudermilk’s report further undermined her hysterical testimony with eight major findings.
“There is no evidence that President Trump agreed with rioters chanting ‘hang Mike Pence,’” the report concluded in “finding 3.”
Loudermilk’s team also debunked claims Trump assaulted Secret Service agents and tried to drive to the Capitol.
Cheney responded to the congressional referral to the Justice Department on Bluesky, a left-wing alternative to X.
“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,” she said. “Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth.”
