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.
"Our investigation has uncovered unethical back-channel communications between former Rep. Liz Cheney and Cassidy Hutchinson just before Hutchinson changed her sworn testimony," Loudermilk said. "Not only is communicating with a witness without their attorney present unethical, it undermines the integrity of an investigation.
"As a licensed attorney , Liz Cheney would have known the ethical and legal issues with this communication," he added. "Clearly, Cheney did not want Stefan Passantino representing Hutchinson; as shortly after Cheney and Hutchinson began communicating, Cheney convinced Hutchinson to fire Passantino, and arranged for a new attorney to represent Hutchinson pro-bono. "
Heightening his concerns, Loudermilk’s investigators obtained communications between Griffin and Hutchinson suggesting Cheney was aware her contact with a potential witness represented by counsel might be problematic as early as April 2022, months before it occurred,
“So I reached out to Liz. She agreed to keep our convo totally confidential. She said she admires you, and could tell that you wanted to the right thing from your testimony,” Griffin wrote in an April 28 Signal message to Hutchinson.
That message came after Hutchinson reached out to Griffin, a former colleague in the Trump White House, to learn about whether Cheney's committee might seek a third deposition with her as the 2022 midterm elections were approaching.
“Her one concern was so long ad [sic] you have counsel, she can't really ethically talk to you without him," Griffin wrote back in highlighting Cheney's hesitation in talking with Hutchinson.
Despite that expressed concern, a little more than a month later, then-Rep. Cheney would nonetheless communicate directly with Hutchinson by both encrypted message and at least one phone call.
“Hi, this is Cassidy Hutchinson. I’m sorry for reaching out this way, but I was hoping to have a private conversation with you (soon), if you are willing,” Hutchinson wrote to Cheney on June 6.
“I would be happy to. Let me know what time works for you,” Cheney replied.
You can read Hutchinson's messages with both Cheney and Griffin below:
After a phone call later that day, Hutchinson sent a screenshot to Cheney containing the private advice of her then-lawyer Passantino who appeared to be seeking advice from his client on a strategy for Hutchinson’s further interactions with the Jan. 6 Committee.
Neither Hutchinson's current lawyer nor Cheney responded to requests for comment from Just the News about the interactions.
According to the subcommittee, Hutchinson fired Passantino just days after she began communicating with Cheney over the encrypted app. In her memoir, Hutchinson even credited Cheney for helping to find her new lawyers.
The subcommittee told Just the News that Hutchinson took screen shots of her communications on Signal with Cheney and eventually turned them over to Congress through her new lawyers.
Experts told Just the News that it is unclear whether the DC bar's rules could be enforced on a member of Congress in an official proceeding. But they added that the normal practice of Congress is to recognize attorney-client representation and not to go around attorneys, in part because the House rules encourage every member not to take action that will bring controversy to the institution,
Contacted by Just the News, Passantino said he was troubled to learn about the text messages and never authorized Cheney to talk to his client without him present.
“I absolutely had no knowledge at the time that Congresswoman Liz Cheney was communicating with my client behind my back - either directly, through her staff, or through cutouts," Passantino told Just the News. "I filed suit against Congress over a year ago on these matters and had absolute confidence in my claims at the time I filed them.
"I am frankly shocked that the smoking gun documents still exist and have come to light. I am currently examining what additional remedies may be available to me in light of Chairman Loudermilk’s remarkable investigative work," he added.
In her memoir, Cheney said that Hutchinson contacted her directly after her third interview and wanted to represent herself before the committee. “I was very sympathetic to her situation, but I did not want our committee to be advising her on what she should do next,” Cheney wrote in her book. “I told Cassidy that she could consult another lawyer, and seek his or her independent advice on how best to move forward.”
However, Hutchinson shared more details in her account of seeking new representation, claiming Cheney directly provided her contact information for several lawyers that could represent her before the committee.
“The next day, she called and provided me with contact information for multiple attorneys at various firms,” Hutchinson wrote, describing how she asked Cheney for help after her funds ran low. “I thanked her and promised that I would figure out a way to do the right thing, regardless of the outcome of the search for new counsel.”
Hutchinson would end up retaining two attorneys recommended by Cheney. Those lawyers also agreed represent her pro bono, according to Hutchinson's memoir.
Hutchinson would later describe Cheney’s assistance as “one of the greatest gifts I could have received: hope.” The two have stayed close and last week campaigned together in Pennsylvania in support of Trump's 2024 Democrat rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Cheney, along with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Harris last month .
The encrypted messages with Griffin also show that Hutchinson appeared to be satisfied with Passantino's work representing her before the Jan. 6 Committee, contrary to her later claims under oath that he was pressuring her to stay "loyal" to Donald Trump. In her later testimony to the select committee, Hutchinson alleged that Passantino had pressured her and coached her responses as a prelude to several material changes she made to her official account of the events of that day, which included new, provocative stories about Trump allegedly lunging for the wheel of the presidential vehicle, Just the News previously reported.
In contrast to her later account, Hutchinson told Griffin "He's not against me complying."
"He's actually sort of willing to do it bc he thinks it builds my credibility as a witness," she continued.
Farah seemed to agree with the strategy. "I actually agree with Stefan's approach and think it's accomplished everyone's goals. I am happy to tip liz off," she wrote back.
This is not the first time Hutchinson has come under scrutiny for conflicting stories.
After jettisoning Passantino, Hutchinson would go on to alter several components of her original testimony and provide new accounts that would feature prominently in the final report, including some that were disputed by other witnesses.
Just the News previously documented several of new narratives Hutchinson brought to the committee memorialized in an errata sheet, including the infamous story about then-President Trump allegedly grabbing the wheel of the presidential vehicle in anger after the Secret Service allegedly refused to take him to the Capitol.
Though this claim was directly refuted by the driver of the vehicle, the Democrat-run Jan. 6 Committee credited that information in its final report as being credible.