When the January 6th Select Committee announced a surprise hearing just yesterday, no one knew why the urgency or who would be testifying. Today, we learned that a top aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, who was “in the room” for many conversations, was able to tell America what the President knew about the violence, and when he knew it — would be the star witness. After all of her damning testimony, vice-chair Liz Cheney dropped what may have been an even bigger bomb regarding January 6th — potential witness tampering by Trump allies claiming to speak for the former President.
After Hutchinson’s testimony, Cheney, without disclosing which witnesses may have been the targets of the witness tampering or who may have done Trump’s dirty work, was able to show the American people a couple of examples of the potential witness tampering.
Cheney showed two graphics from texts that left little to doubt that someone, who claims to speak for Trump, was engaging in witness tampering with at least some of the people called to testify or give depositions to the committee.
The first example read as follows:
What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know I’m on the right team … I’m protecting who I need to protect, you know, I’ll continue to stay in good graces in Trump World. And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee.
This is allegedly testimony given to the committee describing a phone call from someone in “Trump world” to that witness. No doubt the committee knows who made the call and who received it. It reads like a mafia threat to many.
The second example Cheney gave was perhaps even more damning. Read it below:
(an unnamed person, perhaps Trump but redacted by the committee) wants me to let you know that they are thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.
Again, this sounds like something we might see in the Godfather or Sopranos.
This appears to be a warning from the committee that they know what is going on, and evidence is being gathered. Those who are making these calls might want to reconsider their defiance, silence, or “taking the 5th” going forward, according to Cheney as she said as much in her closing statement for the day.
See Cheney’s closing statement below:
As explosive as the Hutchinson testimony was, it is difficult to see why this needed to be done in such urgency. Perhaps the whole point of the three-hour hearing was to put out this warning and offer to the folks doing Trump’s bidding by acting like 2nd rate mobsters engaging in witness tampering and intimidation — maybe that part couldn’t be delayed.
