While vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, former Rep. Liz Cheney used an encrypted phone app to directly and indirectly communicate around defense counsel –and possibly ethical rules — with a witness who would later change her testimony in shocking fashion, according to evidence obtained by congressional investigators and Just the News.
Cheney’s Signal communications with witness Cassidy Hutchinson on June 6, 2022 and her friend, Alyssa Farah Griffin, were recently obtained by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the House Administration oversight subcommittee that has identified significant problems with the original Democrat-run inquiry into the Jan. 6 incident.
The communications are now raising fresh concerns about the ethical conduct of that Democrat-run investigation. At the time of the communication, Hutchinson was represented by attorney Stefan Passantino, who told Just the News he did not authorize the contacts with Cheney and was not aware of them until contacted by Just the News.
Cheney is a licensed lawyer in Washington D.C. where the DC Bar rules state unequivocally that “a lawyer shall not communicate or cause another to communicate about the subject of the representation with a person known to be represented by another lawyer in the matter, unless the lawyer has the prior consent of the lawyer representing such other person or is authorized by law or a court order to do so.”
Loudermilk told Just the News that the communications indicate that Cheney defied her ethical responsibilities and may have influenced a witness outside of her lawyer’s presence, eventually causing Hutchinson to switch lawyers.