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The House Oversight Subcommittee, led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), has issued a 127-page Interim Report that outlines various questionable activities connected to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and the investigation that followed by the Democratic Select Committee, which was supposedly set up to uncover the truth about the events of that day but turned out to be a witch hunt.
Of special note are the report's findings regarding the actions of former Rep. Liz Cheney (RINO-WY). She was a member of the Committee and allegedly leveraged her role to criticize President-elect Donald Trump. According to the report, she exerted excessive control over the Committee's activities to focus on the president-elect, pushing the idea that he was responsible for inciting the violence on January 6, which was proved to be a lie as anyone who listened to what Trump said that day to his followers knows.
The report wraps up by suggesting that the FBI should investigate Cheney's conduct, which men of good faith all feel she should go to federal prison for a long time.
The Oversight Subcommittee points to Cheney's public comments as proof that her primary concern during her time on the Select Committee was Trump, rather than addressing the broader security lapses that took place on January 6.
"Representative Cheney mentions President Trump eighteen separate times in her four-page Forward to the Select Committee’s Final Report—including her statements that 'no man' who behaved as President Trump 'can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again,'" the report pointed out.
The authors noted that Cheney didn't "mention any of the tangible failures of that day" and "spoke of law enforcement only twice, and never mentioned the National Guard or the multi-agency intelligence failures."
One staff member told investigators that when the J6 Committee "became a Cheney 2024 campaign, many of us became discouraged."
"Representative Cheney’s influence on the Select Committee’s work and the conclusions it drew cannot be overstated. Before the Select Committee published its final report, fifteen current and former staffers approached the Washington Post to express deep frustration with Representative Cheney’s heavy-handed oversight of the Select Committee’s work. The article states that 'committee staff members were floored' when told that the final report 'would focus almost entirely on Trump.'"
The Subcommittee also addressed Cheney’s supposed attempt to influence former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the Select Committee. The report claims that Cheney "communicated directly with Cassidy Hutchinson without her attorney’s knowledge, despite Cheney knowing it was unethical."
The report notes that Hutchinson acknowledged receiving "contact information for multiple attorneys at various firms" from the former lawmaker.
"It is unusual—and potentially unethical—for a Member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the Member knows that the individual is represented by legal counsel. Representative Cheney is an attorney, and an attorney who circumvents an individual’s legal representation would violate well-established attorney ethics standards."
The Subcommittee also found evidence of frequent communications between Hutchinson and Cheney without her lawyer’s knowledge. It alleged that Cheney helped Hutchinson find new legal representation and compromised her testimony. However, the former lawmaker, in her book, made it appear as if she "passively waited for Hutchinson to fire her attorney and find new counsel on her own," according to the report.
Cheney allegedly played an instrumental role in shaping Hutchinson’s testimony. "Her first two interviews, though consistent with one another, were significantly different than the narrative she told in her four subsequent interviews and live testimony," the report stated, also stating that the former lawmaker’s "decision to rush Hutchinson’s testimony caused 'unforced errors' and did not afford staff the 'opportunity to thoroughly vet the line of questioning.'"
"Hutchinson testified to a series of specific, outrageous claims about President Trump on January 6, 2021. Nearly all her allegations involve incidents to which she was not an eyewitness, and the parties she credited for relaying those alleged events to her categorically denied her claims."
In one instance, Hutchinson made the outlandish claim that Trump had tried to lunge past Secret Service agents and grab the steering wheel as he was being transported from the Capitol building in a limousine.
The Oversight subcommittee suggested that "numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney". It recommended that "these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation" because the former lawmaker "tampered with at least one witness."
The report argues that the FBI should investigate Cheney for violating laws against "procuring another person to commit perjury."
Of course, it is doubtful that Cheney will face any kind of accountability for her alleged actions. But the report clearly demonstrates what many already knew: Cheney saw the Select Committee as an opportunity to boost her popularity by positioning herself as the ultimate anti-Trump figure.
Cheney made the mistake of basing her entire political platform on going after the president-elect, an issue that contributed to her ignominious defeat in the 2022 midterm primaries.
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