At the end of today’s January 6 House Select Committee hearing, Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) made a brief statement in which she accused failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump of attempting to tamper with a witness who has testified before the committee.
Cheney remarked in her closing statement:
“After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation — a witness you have not yet seen in these hearingsThat person declined to answer or respond to President Trump’s call, and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us, and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice.”
“Let me say one more time: We will take any efforts to influence witness testimony very seriously.”
According to legal experts who heard Cheney’s revelation, the Justice Department now has a slam dunk case of witness tampering they can bring against Trump.
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe tweeted out:
“This is HUGE. Jan. 6 committee notifies DOJ that Trump tried tampering with one of its witnesses, Cheney says”
Former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen also weighed in:
“We already knew of multiple apparent incidents of witness intimidation. We just learned that President Trump may have attempted a 3rd.
“18 USC 1512 punishes witness intimidation with fines, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both.”
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, noted:
“Liz Cheney is smart to put down a marker by publicly calling out Trump for reaching out to one of the Committee’s witnesses.”
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance made it clear that Trump’s actions are a clear sign of his guilt:
“So, Trump tried to call a witness. The witness passed it on to their lawyer & the committee forwarded the information to DOJ. Former presidents are no more entitled to break the law by witness tampering than any other citizen.
“& only the guilty try to tamper with witnesses.”
Elie Mystal of The Nation was stunned by what Cheney said:
“Wait, did Liz Cheney say Trump *called a witness* and that it’s been referred to the DOJ.
“Did this fool commit witness tampering THIS WEEK???”
