President-elect Trump's obsession with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has escalated, with calls for her to be prosecuted for her work on the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 Committee. Suggests.
President Trump accused Cheney of committing a crime after a House subcommittee reported that Cheney inappropriately communicated with star witness Cassidy Hutchinson.
President Trump wrote on his social media site, “Liz Cheney was exposed in Congress' interim report of the J6 Unelected Committee to have committed outrageous and unthinkable criminal acts.'' He added that his support “led to the Democratic Party's electoral defeat.” ”
“She's very unpopular, disgusting, and a real loser!”
It will likely be difficult for the Trump Justice Department to successfully prosecute Cheney.
Mr. Hutchinson first contacted Mr. Cheney, and any activity undertaken by the former House Republican leadership member would likely fall under the Constitution's speech or debate clause.
But the report nonetheless appears to be a roadmap to a possible investigation into a man who has been a prominent critic of President Trump and who the president-elect has repeatedly said should be punished. It is.
The interim report was written by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee. Mr. Loudermilk himself was reviewed by the committee on January 6, 2021, after giving a tour of the Capitol on January 5, 2021, and giving a tour of the Capitol to two voters who later joined the mob that gathered around the building. It was done.
His report, billed as a review of the commission's “failures and politicization,” said Mr. Cheney may have violated witness tampering laws by contacting Mr. Hutchinson and called for a criminal investigation against Mr. Cheney. There is.
Mr. Hutchinson initially contacted former White House aide Alyssa Farrar Griffin, but the report accuses Mr. Griffin of being a back channel between Mr. Hutchinson and the congressman.
Hutchinson was the first to contact Cheney, and the congressman wrote in his memoirs that “all witnesses need a lawyer who will exclusively represent their interests.” He wrote that he encouraged her to find a lawyer.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former constitutional law professor who served on the committee with Cheney on Jan. 6, said the former lawmaker had not acted inappropriately, but regardless. He said he would be protected.
“In America, directing someone to testify truthfully is not a crime. It's a throwback to witness tampering and perjury,” he told The Hill. “And, of course, Cassidy Hutchinson testified truthfully.”
“But Liz Cheney was a member of Congress, which meant she had all the powerful protections of the Speech and Debate Clause, which insulates members from carrying out their legislative duties from prosecution and investigation outside of Congress. Legislative functions, including investigations, are fully protected and, as the authors of the report clearly know, investigators meet with witnesses on a regular basis.
The protections of the Speech and Debate Clauses are not absolute, and members can be charged with crimes completely unrelated to their role in Congress.
“Protection of speech and debate has nothing to do with the legislative or political process, but it does apply to activities of a purely criminal nature, such as paying for sex or buying cocaine or ecstasy. It does not apply,” Raskin said, apparently agreeing with the activities disclosed in the document. Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida).
But bringing a witness tampering case against Cheney would likely face obstacles regardless of her status as a lawmaker.
Loudermilk's report argues that Cheney's contact with Hutchinson was a mistake, given that the aide was initially working with lawyers paid through Trump's legal defense fund. .
“It would be unusual and potentially unethical for a lawmaker conducting an investigation to contact a witness if he or she knows the person is represented by an attorney,” the interim report said. states.
The law punishes anyone who pressures a witness to change their testimony or lie under oath, but Hutchinson was discouraged from actively participating in the committee by his former lawyer, Stephen Passantino. He said he was encouraged to do so and agreed to testify publicly at the mass hearing.
Ellie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst, said law enforcement, prosecutors and even congressional investigators routinely encourage witnesses to testify as part of their jobs.
“Even if you take every word of the January 6th House Oversight Committee report as gospel — and please don't — Liz Cheney did not commit a crime. Not even close. Committee. The proposal to the contrary by the Republicans who ran it betrays that they are either ignorant about criminal law or simply don't care because the politics of retribution are paramount,'' he wrote. new york magazineHe added that the report did little to substantiate his claims.
“There is no indication that Mr. Hutchinson perjured, or that Mr. Cheney coerced him into perjury…But the committee unilaterally declared its worst suspicions correct and falsified any testimony it did not like. “That wouldn't hold up in a criminal court,” he said.
Republicans have taken issue with some of Hutchinson's testimony, including that Trump lunged at a driver that day, but she has made it clear that she was relaying stories she heard from others.
Hutchinson's lawyer, William Jordan, defended Hutchinson's testimony, calling the women's claims of collusion “ridiculous.”
“M.S. Hutchinson made the independent decision to part ways with the Trump-funded lawyer, and she, along with dozens of Republican witnesses and law enforcement officials, was involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “I am now able to give candid, truthful and honorable testimony before the committee.” said in a statement to NBC at the time of the report's release.
“Despite baseless attacks by men who have their own agenda of discrediting Ms. Hutchinson, Ms. Hutchinson stands by her testimony and continues to live up to truth and responsibility.”
A successful prosecution of Cheney will likely also require Hutchinson's cooperation.
But she declined to intervene in the ethics complaint because Passantino remembered little of that day and was accused of encouraging her to get a good job at Trump World. Although various bar associations refused to take action on this issue, 2 ethics complaints dismissed It argued it lacked sufficient evidence to move forward.
Conservative legal commentator Jonathan Turley said a similar ethics complaint in court would likely be the only way to pursue Cheney, but added, “It remains to be seen whether this will lead to a formal ethics investigation in court. is questionable,” he said.
Cheney slammed the entire Loudermilk review.
“Chairman Loudermilk's 'interim report' deliberately ignores the truth and the task force's vast evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory claims aimed at covering up Donald Trump's conduct. Their claims do not reflect consideration of actual evidence and are a malicious and despicable attack on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator, or judge will take this seriously. ” she said.
Loudermilk called the former commission “a political weapon with a singular focus: to fool the public into blaming President Trump for the violence of January 6 and tarnishing the legacy of our first president.”
President Trump seemed to agree, praising the Georgia Republican for “doing a great job exposing massive corruption in the J6 Political Thugs Unelected Committee.”
He also previously said members of the committee “should go to jail.”
But the committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), said Loudermilk had “failed to discredit” the committee's efforts while avoiding accountability from President Trump. said.
And Mr. Raskin called the report “thin porridge.”
“Everything has been said except what actually happened on January 6th. The bloody mob violence seems to have disappeared. Donald Trump's inflammatory speeches on the Ellipse and provocative tweets have disappeared. “The plan to spread big lies to overturn the election that Joe Biden won by 7 million votes has apparently died,” he said.
“This report has no bearing on our bipartisan commission's 845-page report. It's an empty jeer.”
