Liz Cheney communications with ex-Trump aide sought in House GOP Jan 6 committee probe
Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: House GOP investigators are looking for more of former Rep. Liz Cheney’s communications with ex-Trump administration staffers as they continue to probe the work of the now-defunct House select committee on Jan. 6.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who chairs the House Committee on Administration’s oversight subcommittee, sent a letter to Alyssa Farah Griffin on Tuesday seeking records of her exchanges with Cheney, R-Wyo., as well as Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, any Secret Service agents assigned to Meadows or former President Trump and communications with officials in the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney’s office.
Loudermilk asked for Griffin’s communications surrounding Hutchinson specifically, citing claims that Griffin had convinced Hutchinson to testify in front of the select committee and accusing Hutchinson of having “drastically” changed her testimony after speaking with Griffin.
He also pointed to a portion of Hutchinson’s memoir that suggested Griffin at least initially acted as a conduit between herself and Cheney, then-vice chair of the select committee.
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“According to public reports, numerous sit-down interviews, and Cassidy Hutchinson’s memoir Enough, you spoke to Ms. Hutchinson about her testimony to the Select Committee during the summer of 2021. A review of the documents provided by the Select Committee resulted in questions about the veracity of Ms. Hutchinson’s public and private testimony to the Select Committee,” Loudermilk wrote. “Ms. Hutchinson specifically cites her conversation with you as one reason her testimony changed so dramatically.”
The former Trump administration aide was a star witness for the Jan. 6 committee, set up by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Hutchinson had testified that former President Trump physically lunged at Robert Engel, who was his driver, when the agent refused to drive him to the U.S. Capitol. Trump and others linked to the story have denied her claims.
Griffin, who served as White House director of strategic communication under Trump, recalled on CNN’s “The Lead” in September 2023 that she acted as a back channel between Hutchinson and the Jan. 6 committee before her third closed-door interview and subsequent bombshell testimony.
At the time, Hutchinson was being represented by lawyers linked to the former president.
Griffin said Hutchinson laid out “damning” information not previously disclosed to the committee, like claims that Meadows burned documents at the White House, which Griffin then brought to Cheney’s attention.
“What we ultimately came up with is I said, ‘What if I can take this information to Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and see if she can call you back, and in the meantime, we can look at trying to get you representation pro bono,’” Griffin recalled.
It ultimately led to Cheney asking Hutchinson questions at their next meeting about details that were more revealing and painted a darker picture than her previous sit-downs with the committee, including accusations that Trump said his then-Vice President Mike Pence “deserves” rioters calling for his hanging.
Hutchinson also wrote about her meeting with Griffin in her memoir, which House GOP investigators cited on Tuesday.
Loudermilk wrote in his letter to Griffin, “These stories Cassidy has later claimed to have been privy to were never discussed prior to this meeting at your Georgetown row house.”
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“There are no texts, emails, or verbal exchanges that have been verified where Ms. Hutchinson discussed these explosive claims, apart from your conversation, before testifying to the Select Committee,” he wrote. “Therefore, due to your proximity to and influence on Ms. Hutchinson around the time her testimony changed so drastically, I believe you may have important [information] related to this investigation.”
In addition to asking for her communication records, the GOP-led committee also asked Griffin to sit for a voluntary transcribed interview sometime this month.
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Griffin, Hutchinson and Cheney for comment.