Liz Cheney’s Private Talks with Jan. 6 Witnesses Deserve Thorough Investigation
To clarify, the call by the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on House Administration for the Justice Department to investigate clear witness tampering by former Rep. Liz Cheney is not an act of “revenge” — it’s a matter of fundamental “good governance.”
The committee’s report details evidence indicating that Cheney, while serving as vice chair of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, covertly contacted a key witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, and went on to coach her testimony without the involvement of her attorney.
Perhaps there are alternative explanations for Cheney’s use of the encrypted Signal app to communicate with Hutchinson before the former Trump White House aide took the stand.
And maybe there are reasons why Hutchinson’s testimony diverged from that of other witnesses, particularly regarding her claims of Trump allegedly reaching for the steering wheel of a vehicle after Secret Service agents declined to take his motorcade to the Capitol on that crucial day.
However, covert communications with a witness are extremely outside the acceptable practices for any investigator, including congressional members.
Thus, the committee was entirely justified in bringing this issue to the attention of the Justice Department — although the Biden administration is unlikely to pursue it, and even the Trump administration might have more pressing matters at hand.
Congressional hearings should not merely serve as partisan assaults on political foes, yet that’s precisely what Pelosi’s twisted January 6 “investigation” represented — complete with guidance from Hollywood on how to stage the spectacle.
Moreover, the apparent witness tampering leading up to that spectacle adds a distinctly criminal aspect to the misrepresentation of House proceedings.
It appears that Cheney, like many others who loudly proclaim about “protecting democracy” in the previous election, lacks a true understanding of what that term signifies.
