In an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at members of the House January 6 Select Committee, singling out Representative Bennie Thompson and former representative Liz Cheney, who led the panel in its investigation. “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” he said.
Some of Trump’s congressional allies took his words seriously. On Tuesday, the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight released a 128-page report from its investigation into security failures at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as the House committee formed in its wake. In the report, the committee, led by Republican representative Barry Loudermilk, accuses Cheney of committing federal crimes and urges that her actions be “fully investigated.”
“Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the report reads.
The committee alleges that Cheney engaged in witness tampering with the January 6 panel’s key witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, claiming that she influenced the former White House aide by “secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge.” The House members also claim that Hutchinson committed perjury and asserted that the FBI must investigate “the role former Representative Cheney played in instigating Hutchinson to radically change her testimony.”
It’s not yet clear if the FBI will take up the committee’s criminal recommendations against Cheney or what a possible inquiry would look like, but the agency is poised to be run by a new leader who will likely welcome their findings. Earlier this month, Trump selected Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist who once published a so-called “enemies list” of 60 people he considers to be part of the deep state, to serve as FBI director. Though Cheney did not make that list, Hutchinson did.
In that same NBC interview, Trump said that he would not direct Patel and his U.S. attorney general appointee, Pam Bondi, to target specific people once in office. But Trump, who has long vowed to go after his political enemies, seemed to express support for the House report Wednesday morning. “Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that ‘numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI,’” he wrote on TruthSocial.
Trump continued, “Thank you to Congressman Barry Loudermilk on a job well done.”
In a statement, Cheney rejected the committee’s claims, adding that the report “fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did.”
“Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth,” she said. “No reputable lawyer, legislator, or judge would take this seriously.”
Though a future investigation into Cheney is not set in stone, the former congresswoman could potentially receive a reprieve from President Joe Biden. The outgoing leader is said to be mulling preemptive pardons for officials and other political figures who might be targeted by Trump in his second term. Among the names floated in discussions are special counsel Jack Smith, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, as well as January 6 committee members like Cheney and Senator Adam Schiff.
