Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows who’s provided explosive testimony to the House Jan. 6 Committee, privately testified that she received several menacing calls ahead of her interview with the committee, according to multiple outlets.
Politico, the Washington Post and the Guardian report that the two slides committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) presented that showed evidence of “witness intimidation” during Hutchinson’s public hearing on Tuesday were quotes from the ex-Meadows aide’s private testimony.
“[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,” the unidentified caller said, according to Cheney’s description of the witness intimidation.
Politico reports that the redacted “person” was Meadows.
The other slide Cheney presented during the hearing quoted a witness describing another call from an apparent Trump ally: “What they said to me is as long as I continue to be a team player, they know I’m on the right 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. And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee.”
Both quotes reportedly came from Hutchinson.
Punchbowl and CNN have confirmed that Hutchinson was one of the witnesses who was cited in at least one of Cheney’s slides.
A spokesperson for Meadows, Ben Williamson, denied on Thursday that the former Trump official had ever tried to influence Hutchinson’s testimony.
“No one from Meadows’ camp, himself or otherwise, has ever attempted to intimidate or shape Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony to the committee,” Williamson told Politico. “Any phone call or message she is describing is at best deeply misleading.”
Revelations that Hutchinson was the one who received the threatening messages came after ex-Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah explained to CNN that Hutchinson dropped her first lawyer, who had deep ties to Trump, in favor of another attorney so that she could provide a fuller testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.
