House GOP panel calls for Liz Cheney to be investigated for criminal witness tampering
WASHINGTON — A House Republican-led panel on Tuesday called for a federal criminal investigation of former Rep.Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for possible “criminal witness tampering” with a star witness while serving as vice chairman of the since-disbanded House select committee that investigated the 2021 Capitol riot.Cheney and Cassidy Hutchinson, a first-term White House aide to then-President Donald Trump, communicated via the encrypted Signal app before her explosive and later largely debunked public testimony in June 2022, according to documents previously released by House Republicans.Citing those communications, the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight on Tuesday issued an interim report calling for the Justice Department to investigate Cheney as Trump prepares to retake the White House.“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-Ga.) says.“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.”Communications made public in October by the same committee revealed that Cheney and Hutchinson used the Signal app to swap messages to arrange calls over the same app, which is used by Washington journalists and politicians due to its end-to-end encryption, which inhibits interception by authorities.The content of the voice calls is unknown, but one message showed Hutchinson providing Cheney with a screenshot of her then-attorney Stefan Passantino suggesting she not cooperate with the panel that investigated Trump’s role in the mob attack by his supporters challenging the 2020 election results.Hutchinson had been in the midst of six transcrib...