Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff talking with January 6 committee, sources say - CNNPolitics
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • 2 years ago • 23 commentsBy: Ryan Nobles, Dana Bash, Annie Grayer and Zachary Cohen (CNN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)Former President Donald Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff who was talking to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
The support staffer was not someone who routinely communicated with the former President and was concerned about the contact, according to the sources, and informed their attorney. The call was made after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified publicly to the committee. The White House staffer was in a position to corroborate part of what Hutchinson had said under oath, according to the sources. CNN was told the position of the witness Trump tried to call, but not the person's name. Details about the witness Trump tried to contact have not been previously reported. The initial revelation about Trump's phone call was made in a dramatic moment at the end of this week's hearing by committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney. Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, revealed that Trump "tried to call" an unnamed witness in the committee's investigation. She said that witness "declined to answer or respond" to Trump's call and instead alerted their lawyer. The committee has since supplied that information to the Department of Justice. Read More Revisiting Trump's long history of trying to influence witnesses "We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously," Cheney said Tuesday during the hearing. A spokesperson for the House select committee declined to comment. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request to comment. Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat who serves on the committee, told CNN on Tuesday that the individual Trump tried to call has been speaking with the panel. "Trump himself had called someone who has been talking with us," Aguilar said. A source familiar with the panel's investigation added that the committee has spoken to the person Trump tried to call, but not as part of a deposition. Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the committee, told CNN Wednesday that Trump attempting to call this witness was concerning enough to raise it to the Department of Justice. "From my vantage point, it is highly unusual to do that, and that's why we more or less put that in the hands of the Justice Department, for them to make that decision," Thompson said, when asked if the act of Trump calling the person was enough evidence to determine whether he was attempting to intimidate a witness. "We are concerned about witnesses' safety." This is not the first time the committee has raised concerns about potential witness tampering. "This has been an ongoing pattern and we're trying to send the message that witness tampering is a crime in the United States of America. People should not be approaching witnesses to try to get them to alter their testimony," Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who serves on the panel, told CNN on Tuesday. At the end of the hearing featuring Hutchinson last month, Cheney brought up two examples of possible witness intimidation without naming a witness or who had made contact. Sources have told CNN that both instances recounted by Cheney in that June hearing had been directed at Hutchinson, and that Hutchinson believes the messages were intended to influence her testimony. The January 6 insurrection: Minute-by-minute In one instance, Cheney said a witness received a call in which someone said: "(A person) let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal, and you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition." Multiple sources previously told CNN the witness was Hutchinson and the "person" referred to in the message, which was redacted in the version projected on a screen during the hearing, was former White House chief of staff Meadows. Ben Williamson, a spokesperson for Meadows, denied that Meadows or anyone in his "camp" attempted to intimidate Hutchinson or influence her testimony. "No one from Meadows camp, himself or otherwise, ever sought to intimidate or shape her conversations with the committee," Williamson told CNN. The second example previously cited by the committee -- a witness statement detailing the pressure campaign from Trump's orbit -- also involved Hutchinson, the sources told CNN. "What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I'm on the team. I'm doing the right thing. I'm protecting who I need to protect, you know, I'll continue to stay in good graces in Trump World," Cheney said at the hearing, relaying the witness statement that sources now say is Hutchinson. "And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceed through my depositions and interviews with the committee." This story has been updated with additional details Wednesday.
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Odds are it is the WH butler Trump threw plates at!
FCK that want ta be Despot on a stripe spotted on a Leopards for pause, and think about the Tyranical Wrex with little clause's, to grab and throw written laws is, childish it out on a broken plate against the wall, that has his back, cause the plate that needs broke in kind, is the one surrounding the place where one used to find, Trumps' deteriorated mind. Trump should be busy in the call waiting waiting room awaiting call waiting, cause he needs to keep busy signals from allowing his dizzy signals from spinning about all that one who would be afraid to testify him, about, leaving no doubt, as signs of an innocent mind, could anyone possibly find from this thankfully one of a knot kind tied to so much, while his defenders just exclaim, ah shucks, no one really gives two fux, and if true, wqood sux, but only in their convoluted and polluted world do true Americans not care about one with hair and heirs apparent, who attempted to overthrow our countries dynamic, because peep holes can try not to see and hear, but that does not make it less, than it certainly does appear/
Witness tampering on top of everything else. Will we ever get to see that steaming pile of shit do a perp walk? I sincerely hope I live to see the day.
The planet thanks you for recycling instead of wasting resources on something new.
Fuck Off!
No, fuck on.
Deeper and deeper. Makes me think of a person digging their own grave.
So another anonymous source talking to CNN. Like we haven't seen that exact scenario turn out to be 100% fiction before.
That is what you said about early reports the Supreme Court would strike down Roe Versus Wade. An all purpose dodge?
It's pretty sad that the seeder spams their own article with memes. Gives the impression they don't know what they're talking about. But then again, it is you so...
Nature abhors a lack of paragraphs.
Other than that what do you think about Trump witness tampering?
Witness tampering? Corroborated proof? Credible evidence thereof?
BIG NEWS FLASH - Trump "allegedly" attempted to put his right shoe on his left foot this morning. More to come.
BIG NEWS FLASH - Trump "allegedly" burped while brushing his teeth this morning. More to come.
BIG NEWS FLASH - Trump just "allegedly" released all his notes from his Helsinki meeting with Putin - written in invisible ink. More to come.
Is witness tampering (obstruction of justice) funny if Trump does it?
And, you have NO PROOF that that occurred - just allegedly, which don't get you nowhere.
The January 6th Committee has proof and a witness/victim!
Let's see it/
“More to come.”
Another case where less is more. Not sure just what is being defended here.