Trump Tried To Contact A Jan. 6 Committee Witness, Liz Cheney Says
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Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said former President Donald Trump attempted to contact a Jan. 6 committee witness.
During a hearing Tuesday, Cheney said the witness, who has not yet appeared publicly, did not answer a call from Trump and informed their attorney about the attempted contact.
The committee turned over information about the attempted contact to the Department of Justice, Cheney said.
Jan. 6 select committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says Trump tried to call a witness in the committee's investigation after the committee's last hearing.
The witness did not answer or respond, and the committee has supplied the information to the Department of Justice. pic.twitter.com/w5sIxMBZzc— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 12, 2022
Cheney said Trump called the witness after the last hearing, during which Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, made a series of bombshell claims about the former president’s actions on Jan. 6.
Cheney did not name the witness.
“Let me say one more time: We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Cheney said.
At a hearing in June, Cheney suggested some of the committee’s witnesses had not testified as “fully and forthrightly” as others due to interference from people close to Trump, citing two statements from witnesses.
Legal experts told HuffPost that messages to witnesses could constitute obstruction of justice or tampering with a witness in an official proceeding, HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney reported.
Tuesday’s hearing tied Trump to those who led the violent attacks on Jan. 6, and sought to prove a march to the U.S. Capitol was part of his plan to maintain power despite losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
The hearing detailed Trump supporters’ violent responses to a tweet he sent in December 2020 about a “big protest in D.C.” that would be “wild.” It also featured testimony from Stephen Ayres, a man who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and former Oath Keepers spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhove.
The hearing came four days after the committee conducted a private interview with former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Hutchinson had told the committee Cipollone warned Trump and his allies would be “charged with every crime imaginable” if Trump went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, as he wished.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.