The Washington Post's Philip Bump on Wednesday took a look at some House Republicans' report recommending a criminal investigation into former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for her investigations into President-elect Donald Trump — and came away particularly unimpressed.
In promoting his piece on Bluesky, Bump revealed that he found the report on Cheney "even weaker than I expected" and added it was "also pretty clearly an effort to curry favor with Trump."
In his full analysis, Bump takes aim at the report's claim that Cheney purportedly illegally tampered with star witness Cassidy Hutchinson by speaking to her when her attorney wasn't present.
However, Bump offers key context to show why the report's claim in this instance simply doesn't hold water, as it neglects the fact that Hutchinson's Trump-hired attorney had been trying to discourage her from giving further testimony to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
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"In early June, [attorney Stefan] Passantino recommended that Hutchinson stop complying with the committee’s efforts, including an anticipated fourth interview," explains Bump. "In her book, she writes that she expected but 'dreaded' Passantino forcing the issue, worried that she would be putting herself at risk of contempt charges. So, soon after, she contacted Cheney directly. In October of this year, Loudermilk’s committee released some information about this communication, framing it in ethical, not legal terms."
Given this history, writes Bump, it's a very big stretch to claim that Cheney engaged in illegal witness tampering.
"The report... twists Cheney’s role into criminal activity in two ways," he writes. "The first is that her interactions with Hutchinson are described as “tampering,” citing federal witness-tampering statutes. But those are focused on inhibiting testimony (particularly through force) not on enabling it. What’s more, the report’s important claim that Hutchinson retained Hunt and Jordan “at the recommendation of Representative Cheney” ignores the nuances of the interactions both women describe in their respective books."
