A staunch “Never Trump” Former Republican leader Liz Cheney called out Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in key battleground states in the final days of the campaign to warn voters that Donald Trump does not respect the “rule of law” or the U.S. Constitution. joined. . “(When) think about what you are looking for in the person you hire, are you looking for someone you can trust, are you looking for someone who is responsible and will work in good faith?” Cheney told the Detroit Economic Club on October 22:
But new evidence has emerged that Cheney may have unethically influenced important anti-Trump testimony while serving as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee that investigated the 2021 U.S. Capitol riots.
At issue is Cheney’s collaboration with Cassidy Hutchinson, now 27, a former aide to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Hutchinson, who is campaigning for Harris, is widely considered the committee’s “star” witness for her damning account of Trump’s allegations on Jan. 6. For nearly two hours during a TV appearance on June 28, 2022, Hutchinson gave his account. It happened before and after Trump’s speech on the Ellipse as the White House scrambled to respond to the growing chaos at the Capitol.
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In one of the most explosive moments of the hearing, Cheney held up a handwritten draft of a tweet from President Donald Trump directing protesters to disperse from the area.
Cheney asked Hutcheson if he had written the tweet, but it was not posted. Hutchinson said Meadows dictated the words to her around 3pm that day. A footnote in the committee’s final report said, “An examination of Hutchinson’s handwriting was consistent with the transcript of the memo.” .”
The meaning of the testimony was clear. Hutchinson was not only a witness but a key participant in the unfolding events of that day.
But a certified handwriting analyst hired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Executive Branch Oversight Subcommittee, determined that Hutchinson did not write the note. According to experts, the handwriting belongs to Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, who immediately refuted Hutchinson’s testimony in 2022 and later provided several samples of his own handwriting to analysts at Loudermilk.
“The special committee was willing to take (Hutchinson’s) word for it rather than verify the facts. The American people have the right to know the truth,” Loudermilk said.
Hutchinson’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Cheney could not be reached for comment..
The disclosure by Loudermilk, which is conducting a separate investigation into the events of January 6 and the now-defunct J6 Select Committee, appears to represent another example of Cheney’s questionable involvement with the committee, particularly as it relates to Hutchinson.
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Loudermilk discovered text messages on an encrypted chat app between Cheney and Hutchinson ahead of his public testimony, the fifth time Hutchinson has testified before the committee. She has already sat down for recorded interviews in February, March, May and June 20, 2022.
According to information released by the House Administration and Oversight Subcommittee, Hutchinson texted Cheney using Signal on June 6, 2022, asking “to have a private conversation with you.” They were linked by Alyssa Farah Griffin, a onetime colleague of Hutchinson’s and now a witness for the committee who appears on “The View.” Text messages appear to indicate that Cheney and Hutchinson spoke on the phone shortly after their first outreach.
Hutchinson fired his lawyer at the time, former deputy White House counsel Stephen Passantino, a few days later. Passantino represented Hutchinson and was paid by Trump’s Save America PAC. Two lawyers recommended by Cheney, Jody Hunt and William Jordan, soon agreed to represent Hutchinson for free.
Cheney, a Washington, D.C. attorney, appears to have been aware that his communications violated ethics guidelines against communicating with witnesses behind attorneys’ backs. Farah Griffin’s text to Hutchinson acknowledged Cheney’s “concern” that he “can’t really have an ethical conversation with you without (Passantino.)”
But Hutchinson did more than simply change lawyers. On several occasions she changed her story in previous testimony. In televised testimony that committee staff later described as an “emergency” incident initiated by Cheney, Hutchinson reenacted the alleged confrontation between Trump, his driver and his security chief in the presidential vehicle after his speech on the Ellipse. . Hutchinson said during questioning by Cheney that he was “outraged” after being told it was unsafe for Trump to go to the Capitol after advising his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically.”
According to Hutchinson’s second-hand account, Trump attempted to get behind the wheel of the vehicle. “Mr. Trump then used one hand to lunge toward (security chief) Bobby Engel.” Hutchinson said, recalling a conversation he had with then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato after the incident.
Her testimony rocked the political world, and legal analysts across the spectrum argued that the story would destroy Trump. While others were skeptical, Cheney defended his witness. Cheney told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl on June 30, 2022, “I have absolute confidence in her credibility and confidence in her testimony. The committee will not stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources.” He said.
But no one in the White House has corroborated Hutchinson’s version of events. Conversely, Ornato said the first time he heard of a collision in the president’s vehicle was during Hutchinson’s testimony. “On the day of Mr. Hutchinson’s testimony, I went to the Secret Service office and was in his office when the Secret Service representative asked me about my recollection. And I communicated that that was not the story I remembered and that I did not remember it happening.” Ornato spoke to Cheney, who questioned him about the incident.
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And while the commission questioned the unnamed Secret Service driver, investigators did not ask about the alleged incident. According to the Loudermilk committee report, the issue was only discussed after it was “aggressively” raised by the driver’s attorney, who told the committee that “(President Trump) was not behind the wheel.” (President Trump) has never been behind the wheel. I never saw him rush to get in the front seat.”
The driver’s records, along with hundreds of witness interviews conducted by the J6 committee, have not yet been made public.
Hutchinson testified twice more behind closed doors in September 2022 as his story continued to change. In fact, her attorneys filed a 15-page corrigendum that same month seeking to significantly revise her previous testimony. The document not only adds charges related to the presidential vehicle incident, but also claims Hutchinson was told there were dangerous weapons, including firearms, at the Capitol. She said in previous testimony that she had never heard of it. The phrase ‘Hang Mike Pence’ appeared on the television in the president’s dining room, suggesting that the protesters were aware that they were threatening the vice president.
She also reiterated her authorship of Meadows’ notes.
“These newly released texts are more evidence that Liz Cheney’s J6 committee is not interested in the truth, but only in promoting a predetermined political narrative,” Loudermilk told RCI on Monday. “Cheney not only used Alyssa Farrar Griffin to secretly communicate with Hutchinson, but he also communicated directly with Hutchinson about Prez’s sensational new claims. “Trump is responsible for everything that happened on January 6th,” he said.
Her role as the committee’s star witness was a lucrative endeavor for Hutchinson, who published three books on the Cheney family and landed her a book deal from Simon & Schuster, who prepared her speaking engagements, but not for her first lawyer, Stefan Passantino. You can say it.
Last year, Passantino, who served as White House ethics director during the first half of the Trump administration, filed a $67 million lawsuit against the federal government. He accused the committee of violating his privacy and causing “substantial economic, reputational and emotional harm.” .” Passantino accused Cheney and her general counsel, Dan George, of trying to launch a “sabotage” operation in May 2022 “to induce Mr. Passantino to obstruct Congress during Mr. Hutchinson’s third interview.”
Selections of Hutchinson’s testimony were leaked to the news media, depicting Passantino as advising his client to mislead the committee. According to a CNN “exclusive” report in December 2022, Passantino told Hutchinson to “tell the committee he didn’t remember the details” and suggested the matter be referred to the Justice Department. The committee’s final report also included unsubstantiated claims.
CNN’s story prompted dozens of follow-ups, including an article in the student-run newspaper of Passantino’s law school alma mater, Emory University, and articles by MSNBC, the New York Times and CBS News.
The bad press led to Passantino being fired by an Atlanta law firm and two attorney lawsuits filed against him in Georgia and Washington. Both were fired.
However, other text messages between Hutchinson and Farrah Griffin appear to support Passantino’s claim that he was not involved in the investigation. A text chain between the women in May 2022 in preparation for Hutchinson’s testimony later that month shows Hutchinson telling Farrah Griffin, “(Pasantino) is not opposed to me complying.” As the discussion continued, Hutchinson reiterated that Passantino advised him to cooperate with the committee. “He doesn’t want me interfering with the committee,” she told Farah Griffin. Hutchinson said in his third deposition that Passantino gave him advice that “increased my credibility as a witness.”
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Passantino, now a partner at his own firm in Atlanta, believes the text exonerates the charges against him.
“When I first filed suit against Congress 18 months ago to hold Liz Cheney and the January 6 Commission accountable for the damage done to my family, my reputation and my career, I knew we had facts to support our complaints. I knew that. But I was not confident that the documents supporting my claims had not been destroyed or would ever see the light of day,” Passantino told RealClearInvestigations last week. “However, Cassidy Hutchinson appears to have captured screenshots of encrypted communications with Liz Cheney and passed them on to Chairman Loudermilk. It seems like the tip of the iceberg has just covered the waterline.”
Passantino also filed a defamation lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann, a former DOJ prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst, for posting a September 2023 tweet accusing Passantino of “coaching her to lie.” Earlier this month, a federal judge allowed the case to proceed.
Evidence of back-channel communications prompted a lawsuit filed last week by lawyers against Cheney, a Washington attorney. America First Legal, founded by Trump’s longtime adviser Stephen Miller, filed the lawsuit on Passantino’s behalf. In the complaint, Cheney is accused of violating a D.C. bar rule that prohibits attorneys from communicating with a person known to be represented by another attorney in the matter. We are permitted to do so by law or court order.”
Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.
