The revelation that the US House of Representatives’ January 6 committee notified the Department of Justice (DOJ) of an alleged attempt by former President Donald Trump to contact a witness is the latest product of the panel’s investigation into involve law enforcement.
The detail, presented by Vice President Liz Cheney, a Republican representative from Wyoming, was perhaps the most unexpected moment of Tuesday’s hearing.
For the second time, the committee’s public hearings raise the possibility of an investigation of witness tampering, in a quick move to sue the Justice Department even before the committee’s investigation is complete.
Cheney told the panel hearing that Trump had tried to contact a witness who has not yet been publicly identified and, she said, was not presented at the committee sessions.
“This person refused to respond to President Trump’s call and instead alerted his attorney about the call. The lawyer then alerted us,” Cheney said. “This committee provided this information to the Department of Justice.”
A spokesperson for the DC Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the Jan. 6 lawsuits, declined to comment.
After the hearing, Representative Jamie Raskin told CNN that it is unclear to the committee whether the incident amounts to tampering with witness testimony, which is a federal crime.
“We would have to know a lot more about that,” said the Maryland Democrat. “The point is that the committee takes very seriously the possibility of witnesses like Cassidy Hutchinson telling us everything they know without fear of reprisal or coercion.”
Raskin added that he believes Trump’s political spheres have shown “a more sophisticated way of controlling these witnesses,” including paying for defense attorneys.
Getting the DOJ’s Interest
With the committee forwarding the information to the Department of Justice, the incident could pique the interest of prosecutors and the FBI.
Cheney’s revelation was the first time the committee has explicitly said it has provided the DOJ with information discovered during the investigation — a contrast to how the committee has blocked the Justice Department from accessing other information, such as interview transcripts, collected thus far.
It was not, however, the first public suggestion of witness tampering that the committee had made. Previously, the committee noted two incidents in which Hutchinson, a former White House aide, received messages about loyalty to Trump. These were not sent by the former president.
Cheney did not disclose the contents of Trump’s call, and communicating with only one witness is not necessarily tampering. Normally, under federal law, a person communicating with a witness would have to know that his approach is wrong and that it could affect a lawsuit.
In the past, Trump associates’ negotiations with Congress have been fertile ground for accusations by the DOJ. The Department successfully pursued witness tampering charges against Roger Stone for his testimony in the House investigation into Russia.
More recently, the Jan. 6 House inquiry brought two criminal charges of contempt of Congressional charges related to testimony about Trump.
Critics of these types of accusations call them “crimes of process,” but legal experts often side with prosecutors pursuing claims of witness tampering because of how damaging it can be to investigations.
Cheney has already tried to emphasize how serious attempts to influence witnesses can be. “Let me say it again: any effort to influence witness testimony will be taken very seriously,” she said at Tuesday’s hearing.
While the Department has made unprecedented progress over the past year and a half in prosecuting hundreds of low-level protesters who stormed Capitol Hill, it only recently has details about federal criminal investigations against more senior figures — such as Trump campaign lawyers and advisers.
Committee members expressed frustration with the way the Department approached the Trump inner circle investigation, avoiding taking overt investigative measures in the first year after the invasion.
Source: CNN Brasil
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