Former US President Donald Trump tried to call a member of the White House support team who is talking to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, they told CNN two sources familiar with the matter.
The support worker was not someone who routinely communicated with the former president and was concerned about contact, according to the sources, and informed his lawyer.
The call came after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson publicly testified to the committee. The White House official was in a position to corroborate some of what Hutchinson had said under oath, according to the sources.
THE CNN was told the position of the witness Trump tried to call, but not his name.
The initial revelation about Trump’s phone call came at a dramatic moment at the end of Tuesday’s hearing by the committee’s vice chair, Liz Cheney. Wyoming’s Republican representative revealed that the former president “attempted to contact” an unnamed witness in the committee’s investigation.
Cheney said the witness “refused to respond” to Trump’s call and instead alerted his attorney. The committee provided this information to the Department of Justice. “We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Cheney said during the hearing.
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
Representative Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat who serves on the committee, told CNN on Tuesday that the individual the former president tried to call is in contact with the panel.
“Trump himself called someone who is talking to us,” Aguilar said.
Mississippi Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, told CNN on Wednesday that Trump’s attempt to contact this witness was troubling enough to take him to the Justice Department.
“From my point of view, it is highly unusual to do this, which is why we put it in the hands of the Department of Justice to make this decision,” Thompson said, when asked if Trump’s act was sufficient evidence to determine an attempt. witness intimidation. “We are concerned about the safety of witnesses.”
This is not the first time the committee has raised concerns about possible tampering with witness testimony.
“This has been an ongoing pattern and we are trying to send the message that tampering with witness statements is a crime in the United States. People shouldn’t approach witnesses to try to get them to change their testimony,” said the Maryland Democrat. Jamie Raskin, who serves on the panel, at CNN on Tuesday.
At the end of the hearing with Hutchinson last month, Cheney brought up two examples of possible witness intimidation without revealing names or who had made contact. Sources told the CNN that both cases reported by Cheney were directed at Hutchinson, who believes the messages were intended to influence his testimony.
In one case, the representative said that a witness received a call where someone said, “(A person) told me you have your statement tomorrow. He wants me to let you know he’s thinking about you. He knows you are loyal, and he will do the right thing in your statement.”
Several sources have reported to CNN that the witness in question was Hutchinson and the “person” mentioned in the message was former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Ben Williamson, a spokesman for Meadows, denied that he or anyone on his team had tried to intimidate Hutchinson or influence his testimony.
Source: CNN Brasil
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