Jan. 6 panel staff angry at Cheney for focusing too much of report on Trump - The Washington Post
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • last year • 38 commentsBy: Jacqueline Alemany,Josh Dawsey (Washington Post)


Fifteen former and current staffers expressed concern that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public
By Jacqueline Alemany,Josh Dawsey andCarol D. LeonnigNovember 23, 2022 at 4:40 p.m. EST Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) during a hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in October. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Listen Comment on this storyComment Gift Article Share
Since Rep. Liz Cheney accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offer to serve as the vice chair of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Wyoming Republican has exerted a remarkable level of control over much of the committee's public and private work.
Now, less than six weeks before the conclusion of the committee's work, Cheney's influence over the committee's final report has rankled many current and former committee staff. They are angered and disillusioned by Cheney's push to focus the report primarily on former president Donald Trump, and have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker's political future.
Fifteen former and current staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public.
The feuding brings to the fore a level of public acrimony within the Jan. 6 committee that previously had largely played out behind the scenes, as public attention was focused on a series of blockbuster public hearings focused on Trump's role fomenting the attack.
Several committee staff members were floored earlier this month when they were told that a draft report would focus almost entirely on Trump and the work of the committee's Gold Team, excluding reams of other investigative work.
Potentially left on the cutting room floor, or relegated to an appendix, were many revelations from the Blue Team — the group that dug into the law enforcement and intelligence community's failure to assess the looming threat and prepare for the well-forecast attack on the Capitol. The proposed report would also cut back on much of the work of the Green Team, which looked at financing for the Jan. 6 attack, and the Purple Team, which examined militia groups and extremism.
"We all came from prestigious jobs, dropping what we were doing because we were told this would be an important fact-finding investigation that would inform the public," said one former committee staffer. "But when [the committee] became a Cheney 2024 campaign, many of us became discouraged."
Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler issued a blistering statement Wednesday to The Washington Post in response to the criticisms.
"Donald Trump is the first president in American history to attempt to overturn an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power," Adler said. "So, damn right Liz is 'prioritizing' understanding what he did and how he did it and ensuring it never happens again."
Adler added, "Some staff have submitted subpar material for the report that reflects long-held liberal biases about federal law enforcement, Republicans, and sociological issues outside the scope of the Select Committee's work. She won't sign onto any 'narrative' that suggests Republicans are inherently racist or smears men and women in law enforcement, or suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist."
Tim Mulvey, the select committee's spokesman, said in a separate statement that the panel's "historic, bipartisan fact-finding effort speaks for itself, and that won't be changed by a handful of disgruntled staff who are uninformed about many parts of the committee's ongoing work."
"They've forgotten their duties as public servants and their cowardice is helping Donald Trump and others responsible for the violence of January 6th," Mulvey's statement continued. "All nine committee members continue to review materials and make contributions to the draft report, which will address every key aspect of the committee's investigation. Decisions about the contents of the report ultimately rest with the committee's bipartisan membership, not the staff."
The internal tensions over Cheney's role also stand in contrast to the widespread public praise from many Democrats and even some Republicans, who have hailed her for standing up to Trump and defending democratic norms. Cheney, under siege by Trump and ostracized by the GOP, was defeated in the Wyoming primary this summer and will leave office in January.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is now looking far beyond her Republican primary loss and possibly toward the White House. (Video: Michael Cadenhead/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Some staffers noted that the mission of the committee — as spelled out in the resolution authorizing its formation — was to discover what political forces and intelligence and security failures allowed the U.S. Capitol Police and its partners to be so overwhelmed and ill-prepared for the attack and to ensure that such an event could not happen again. Leaving any relevant information out of the final report would ignore important lessons for the future and issues that will outlive Trump, they argued.
But in the wake of an NBC News story earlier this month that the final report would not include much of the panel's work not directly related to Trump, lawmakers on the committee are now reassessing what to include in the final draft and also eyeing different ways to publicly share more of the investigators' work outside of the report. That could include sharing findings on the committee's website or releasing internal transcripts.
A senior committee staffer told staff in a virtual conference meeting two weeks ago that none of the work done by people serving on teams other than the Gold Team that didn't focus on Trump would be included in the final report.
"Everybody freaked out," the staffer said.
The announcement, this staffer argued, was premature and based on negative reactions from lawmakers who concluded that draft chapters written by non-Gold investigative teams should not be included because they were either too long or too academic in nature. However, the staffer said, while committee members disliked those chapters, they were open to including some of that material in a more concise or streamlined form.
"It's not a class project — everyone doesn't get a participation prize," said a senior Democratic aide. "The Green Team has chapters and chapters of good work, but the problem is they've learned a lot of great stuff about objectionable but completely legal things."
Tensions among lawmakers on the committee are also high, with some members angry about information being shared with the press regarding internal discussions on what to include or exclude from the final report, according to people familiar with the mood on the committee. Some distrust has been sown between lawmakers and staff over the NBC News story, and some senior staff called complaints about Cheney from committee staff unprofessional — and said that ultimately, the members call the final shots.
"Ten years from now, most of us are going to think that the work of the committee has been the most important thing we've ever done in our careers, and I think it's just very shortsighted to have these kinds of smaller, petty kind of complaints," a senior committee staffer said.
People familiar with the committee's work said Cheney has taken a far more hands-on role than Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), who is chairing the committee. She is said by multiple staffers to want the report to focus on Trump, and has pushed for the hearings to focus extensively on his conduct — and not what she views as other sideshows.
Two people familiar with the process argued that without Cheney's guidance, the committee would not be on track to submit a cohesive final report by the end of the year. One of these people described some of the output from investigators as being "uneven."
"They were headed for a worse version of the Mueller report, which nobody read — and Cheney knew that," this person said.
Some staff vehemently objected to the characterization that some of the work product was weak or inconsistent, and countered that it's long been clear that Cheney deprioritized findings that didn't fit a specific narrative about Trump's efforts to foment the insurrection.
Some of the disaffected staff have left in recent months, in part out of frustration that their work is not expected to get significant attention in the report, some of these people said. Cheney has been uninterested in such criticisms, reminding others that she is a member — and if other members have a problem with her work, they can approach her.
The Attack: Before, during and after the assault on the Capitol
In recent days, some staffers have started directly lobbying other panel members to include the full set of findings in the final report, according to people familiar with the discussions. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the panel, said over the weekend during an interview with "Face the Nation" that the public would have access to "all the evidence, for good or ill" within the next month.
"Trump lit the fuse on all of this, but he is kind of irrelevant now — it doesn't matter if he runs for president … Of course we want to stop Trump in any way possible, but we'll still be facing these organized militia types or lone-wolf attackers in five to ten years," said one committee staffer. "I don't think it's good for the committee or democracy at large if this entire final report is the case against Trump."
Frustration with Cheney's perceived heavy hand has been building since the committee started putting together the public hearings. While many staffers credit Cheney for the unparalleled success of the bombshell set of presentations made by the panel over the summer, some grew exasperated by her tactics.
Several staffers recalled Cheney's unpopular initial mandate that witnesses who appeared before the committee for an interview or deposition must review their transcripts in person, rather than online. Staffers griped that Cheney's orders would be a strain on the relationships that investigators had developed with witnesses, many of whom would have to travel across the country to review their transcript.
Eventually, one of the lawyers who worked closely with Cheney conveyed to her that she was jeopardizing the staff's goodwill and convinced her to adjust the process. Other staff expressed irritation with Cheney's last-minute decision-making, and being consistently left in the dark on major decisions until public announcements.
Some investigators were furious with the vice chair's secrecy around former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's appearance before the panel in June, according to former and current staff. Some staffers complained that the appearance caused unforced errors — such as Hutchinson's uncorroborated claim of a tussle between Trump and a Secret Service officer — because Cheney did not give staff the opportunity to thoroughly vet the line of questioning and structure of the hearing.
A senior staffer argued that Cheney and other members were properly secretive about Hutchinson's upcoming testimony in late June, and rightly concerned about staff leaks that could both unintentionally put her in danger and prematurely reveal her testimony before she gave it on live television. If details about the account Hutchinson planned to give were leaked, the staffer said, "more rabid Trump supporters might try to hurt her" and, less importantly, the power of her live testimony would be muted.
Lofgren defended Cheney in a statement: "No member of the Committee has worked harder than Liz Cheney. Our bipartisan efforts have led to what some have called the most effective set of congressional hearings in modern history. The Committee intends to release the evidence we have acquired so no element of our work will go unreported."
Drew Hammill, spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement Wednesday that Pelosi thanked Thompson and Cheney, and said the committee had been "successful" and had "deepened the public's understanding."
With House Republican control of the House coming in January, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and his staff are already preparing to conduct an examination of any evidence omitted from the final report that is more flattering or at least exculpatory about Trump's actions leading up to the Jan. 6 assault, according to one Republican operative.
Lawyers familiar with witness testimony that was never aired said Jordan is preparing for the deep-dive he will lead as the likely chairman of the House Judiciary Committee as he seeks to portray the investigation as a political hit-job that focused on a predetermined narrative to "blame Trump," and ignored other facts that conflicted with that storyline.
The committee is well aware that Republicans are eager to get their hands on whatever materials become available to them when the House GOP conference takes back the majority.
"I expect them to do a document dive and cherry pick from the documents," said a staffer working on the final report. "I have 100 percent confidence they're going to do that — I just don't think it's as exculpatory as they're going to make it out to be."
The Jan. 6 insurrection
Congressional hearings: The House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol held a series of high-profile hearings to share its findings with the U.S. public. In what was likely its final hearing, the committee issued a surprise subpoena seeking testimony from former president Donald Trump. Here's a guide to the biggest hearing moments so far.
Will there be charges? The committee could make criminal referrals of former president Donald Trump over his role in the attack, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in an interview.
What we know about what Trump did on Jan. 6: New details emerged when Hutchinson testified before the committee and shared what she saw and heard on Jan. 6.
The riot:On Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died on that day or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted.
Inside the siege: During the rampage, rioters came perilously close to penetrating the inner sanctums of the building while lawmakers were still there, including former vice president Mike Pence. The Washington Post examined text messages, photos and videos to create a video timeline of what happened on Jan. 6.

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Does Liz Cheney have any comebacks in her?
If so, it will be years down the road. A shame, the politicians with the most integrity are run out of town or diminished.
Lol.
sounds to me like they found out the reasons behind why the voters in Wyo felt the way they did about her ....... there is always a spot open on the view .....
Personally, I think it's a mistake to prevent Trump from being a candidate for POTUS in 2024. If the Republicans choose him I would guess that any Democrat candidate would beat him, and if they don't nominate him his narcissism and ego will cause him to form his own party to throw his hat into the ring and that would split the conservative vote guaranteeing that a Democrat would win.
I think your analysis has merit, but I think the best chance the GoP has to win the presidency is to NOT nominate Trump.
He might form his own party as you suggest and maybe he could become a spoiler. It is possible. But note that he will almost certainly NOT get the independent vote, many extant Trump supporters will shy away from voting other than R, and his base is likely to continue to wane. His third party run would be a disaster and might not even be a spoiler. Note also that it is possible the GoP nominee would be popular and could win even with Trump splitting the vote.
To wit, if Trump is the nominee, the GoP is surely to lose. If Trump is not the GoP, it has a chance to win. I go with option 2.
The GoP should focus entirely on the future. Think and act positively. Find a candidate that can win in the general election and rally around him or her. And prior to finding that candidate, the GoP should do its best to distance from Trump and to dissuade those who would support / defend/ apologize for Trump.
They need a candidate that offers some solutions instead of simple finger pointing. The only solution the GOP has offered is eliminating LEGAL abortions. Unfortunately the vast number of voters do not want that solution, as the last election showed.
Split the committee. One sub-committee can focus on the Big Lie and the other can focus on the other major issues.
It is smart to stay focused. The more complexity involved, the less likely the public will understand (or even pay attention to) what is taking place.
Liz Cheney has no real chance to get the GoP nomination. If she runs, it is to be Trump's worst nightmare ... to do everything she can to prevent him from securing the GoP nomination. She has already honestly stated most of that publicly.
This article is much ado about very little. The committee should have focused overwhelmingly on Trump. He was the president and also the one that incited the riot at the Capitol AND tried to steal the election.
Individuals who worked as staff for the committee may feel slighted, but they'll get over it.
I don't know why they complained. Liz was put on the panel to go after trump and that is what she did. Maybe they were confused and thought the panel was going to look at things besides trump. They should have named it the trump commission to avoid any confusion.
Given that Trump was the only US president to try to overturn an election, including an armed attack on our own Capitol, it seems warranted.
Is that true? Were they armed?
At one of the televised hearings this summer, we heard police radio recordings reporting a man with an AR-15 in a tree on Constitution Avenue and two men with pistols on their hips, also another report of three men walking down the street in fatigues carrying AR-15s at 14th and Independence. Six men were arrested that day for having guns near the Capitol.
I remember one 6 Jan defendant testified that as he stood on one side of the Capitol, he counted eight firearms carried by five people. Several other defendants have been convicted of bringing firearms into the Capitol.
Police confiscated pipe bombs, molotov cocktails and firearms from parked vehicles near the Capital.
I also consider those rioters that used chemical spray, stun guns, flagpoles, clubs fire extinguishers and poles to attack police to have been armed as has the court.
I see.
I think the media has done a wonderful job of informing the public, don't you?
Of course, don’t you remember the scary guy in the Buffalo costume with the pointy horns? He could have put an eye out.
An obvious sign of an armed rebellion!
Yea, to bad they didn’t print the mug shots of all of those criminals.
Perhaps the new Committee investigating Jan 6th will provide more details.
A bizarre dude for sure. The QAnon Shaman, also carried a spear and was sentenced to 41 months in prison, after being in jail for 10 months. If I remember right, he didn’t care much for DC jail food. It’s probably better chow at FCI-Safford AZ.
In a way it's reminiscent of the way AG Bobby Kennedy demanded that Jimmy Hoffa be treated after finally finding a way to convict him on a perjury charge. They had Hoffa taken away in shackles and sent to a prison where Kennedy personally instructed the warden to make Hoffa's life miserable.
Let us not forget that Kennedy called Jimmy Hoffa "the most dangerous man in America."
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We didn't think much about Kennedy's actions then, did we? Now we see how the political party in control and a biased media can weaponize the law. What was done by them is IMO the moral equivalence to what was done by the Jan 6th rioters.
He brought a spear to a gunfight. If it would have been a skateboard do you think our friends on the left would have claimed he was unarmed?
If I remember right, he was convicted on multiple charges in two separate trials, but avoided serving time for three years as he appealed his convictions.
It doesn't matter what they think, what mattered in both trials, is what judges and juries thought.
If it had been a real gunfight, there would have been many dead rioters. The Capital and DC Police showed remarkable restraint that day.
Your deflections are fucking hilarious.
Yes.
Welcome to the open forum.
Did you forget about the Meuller "investigation"?
Been waiting 2 years for proof of this. Remember there was only 1 person killed during the protest and she was shot by Capital Police.
Still can't come close to the Summer of Love.
It was more than just some that weren't prosecuted. Wonderful two tier justice system Democrats have put in place.
The hypocrisy of leftists is galling.
"Defund the police"; and if that doesn't work "Then assault, maim, injure, and kill them! While you are at it feel free to burn shit down, including federal property, and help yourself to as much "free shit" as you want!"
And it goes right up as high as the VP. As she ask for people to donate to a fund for bail money for the rioters.
Then she lied and called it "misinformation".
Several committee staff members were floored earlier this month when they were told that a draft report would focus almost entirely on Trump and the work of the committee's Gold Team, excluding reams of other investigative work.
The committee members can publish a "minority report" and even go on cable news shows to air the results of the investigation omitted by Liz Cheney.
Some of the staffers actually read and understood what the committee was formed to do? Pelosi sunk that when she wouldn't seat the nominated Republicans; and hand picked two TDS driven mighty mental midgets in Cheney and Kinzinger. Pelosi also took off the table any questioning of herself, Bowser, and Schumer- the very people in charge of DC security. Can't fix the problem when those in charge refuse to testify knowing they were a large part of the problem.
Hope Adler doesn't plan on running for office any time soon. That tirade will sure to be reprinted, retweeted, and reposted endlessly. Both sides will use it as fodder against him. Not to mention Liz. How could she be so easily duped into serving on a committee that had such anti conservative and Republican partisanship? TDS has wrecked many careers. Hers won't even be at the top of the list before it is over.
"Of course we want to stop Trump any way possible," they said the silent part out loud. I am sure Garland is smacking his head after hearing it. He would rather be smacking theirs.
" but we'll still be facing these organized militia types or lone-wolf attackers in five to ten years,". Democrats need a distraction from any future Summer of Loves. Seems Trump just won't do it. So now it is the organized militias and lone wolf attackers. When the weather turns nice again- BLM and Antifa will be there to take advantage of those dumb enough not to prosecute them the first time around. They will have to restock on their "free shit" supply that was eroded over the winter months.
All he has Al is projection, deflection, denial, and bullshit
Some people are so full of shit they explode!