Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, has said that former Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyoming) communication with a key Jan. 6 witness without her lawyer’s knowledge is unethical and potentially illegal, and is one of several issues uncovered in his investigation that could lead to future referrals to the Justice Department. The Georgia Republican’s committee began examining the previous investigation conducted by the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Select Committee, aiming to uncover the truth about what transpired on January 6 after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 elections.
“Well, the main issue is exactly what you just laid out, that you have a member of Congress who is an attorney, who knows— I’m not an attorney, but I know at least, you know, some of the basics of attorney-client privilege and representation — that it’s unethical, if not, in some cases illegal, you know, that you cannot have conversations or meetings with someone who already has representation without that attorney present,” Loudermilk told the John Solomon Reports podcast Wednesday.
According to encrypted Signal messages obtained by Loudermilk’s committee, former Rep. Cheney, while serving as vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, communicated directly and indirectly with Cassidy Hutchinson, a star witness who would later alter her testimony in a shocking manner, as reported by Just the News earlier this week. Cheney did not inform or seek permission from Hutchinson’s defense counsel, which is unusual.
These communications are the latest in a series of concerns raised by Loudermilk’s investigation regarding the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Select Committee, which concluded its work in December 2022. His committee previously discovered that the select committee failed to preserve documents, data, and video depositions from its investigation, including the video of Hutchinson’s testimony, Just the News noted.
Loudermilk told Just the News upon the release of the text messages that Cheney’s contacts with Hutchinson undermine the integrity of the investigation. Cheney did not immediately respond to a text message requesting comment, the outlet reported.
The messages exchanged between Hutchinson and Cheney indicate that the then-Wyoming lawmaker was aware of the legal and ethical risks involved in communicating directly with Hutchinson without her lawyer’s knowledge. This was reflected in a conversation between Hutchinson and fellow Jan. 6 witness and then-Trump administration official Alyssa Farah Griffin, who appeared to serve as an intermediary between Hutchinson and the committee.
“So I reached out to Liz. She agreed to keep our convo totally confidential. She said she admires you, and could tell that you wanted to the right thing from your testimony,” Griffin wrote in an April 28 Signal message to Hutchinson. Loudermilk stated that Cheney may have risked contacting Hutchinson without her lawyer Stefan Passantino’s knowledge because her further testimony was crucial to advance a preferred narrative about Jan. 6.
“It’s not ethical to do that, but it is effective, obviously, if, if you’re trying to get a particular outcome,” Loudermilk said. “So knowing that she continued to pursue that—now I know Liz Cheney, she’s a very smart person. She is. She’s incredibly intelligent—what this shows me is it was worth the risk to get Cassidy Hutchinson to come and testify again,” he told the podcast.
Experts told Just the News that it remains uncertain whether the D.C. Bar’s rules, which prohibit contact with a party represented by another attorney in a case, can be enforced against a member of Congress during an official proceeding. However, they noted that the customary practice in Congress is to acknowledge attorney-client representation and avoid bypassing attorneys. This approach aligns with House rules that encourage members not to take actions that could bring controversy to the institution, the outlet reported.
Loudermilk contends that Cheney’s conduct is yet another instance of the Jan. 6 committee violating ethical rules, starting with its failure to preserve crucial documents and video evidence following the Republicans’ victory in the chamber during the 2022 elections. “I think there’s no doubt in that with what we’ve recently uncovered, I think it was clear that [chamber rules were] violated by either the chairman of the committee, Benny Thompson, or the vice chair, Liz Cheney, in the fact of all the documents that were hid from the American people were were hid from this committee and or were deleted and destroyed,” Loudermilk said.
“I think that in itself, besides violating preservation rules of house and official US government documents, that provision right there was totally violated. So I think we have numerous violations of protocol, of ethics, possibly even law,” he concluded.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.