A former senior aide to Mark R. Meadows, both in his congressional office and in the White House when Meadows was President Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff, provided a shocking glimpse Dec. 17 into the machinations of the House special committee investigating the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th – and one of their star witnesses: Cassidy Hutchinson.
“Due to the ongoing investigation, I have not spoken much publicly about the incident that followed – but given the good work of today’s House Management report on the J6 Committee and its revelations about possible ‘witness tampering,'” he wrote Ben Williamsonwho served as Meadows’ chief of staff and communications director.
Due to ongoing investigations, I have not spoken much publicly about the following incident – but given the good work of today’s House Management report on the J6 Committee and its revelations about possible “witness tampering”, I would like to share a relevant episode about another…
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) December 18, 2024
“This is just one story in a long list and, relatively speaking, I was one of the lucky ones, but I am pleased that today’s report takes the J6 committee and its ‘star witness’ to task,” he said.
“It was all based on fabrications, but the J6 committee never bothered to involve the other side,” he said. “That is one of many reasons why none of her claims about President Trump, or frankly anyone else, should ever be believed.”
Hutchinson was turned around
Hutchinson worked with Williamson on both Capitol Hill and the White House, and her transition from cordial witness to hostile witness was witnessed by former Republican Congresswoman Elizabeth L. “Liz” Cheney of Wyoming, vice chairwoman of the J6 Committee. relieved former Trump and Meadows adviser Alyssa Farah Griffin and former Republican congresswoman from Virginia Barbara Comstock.
Farah Griffin, who described Hutchinson needing money, invited the unemployed former Trump aide to her home to talk about it before making the connection with Cheney.
The Patrick Henry College graduate shared his memories with the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee on the same day published an interim report by its chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R.-Ga.), in the politicization of the J6 committee.
The former Democratic J6 Select Committee conducted its “investigation” outside the bounds of legitimacy, suppressing evidence and deleting key information.
Today’s report exposes them for misleading Congress and the American people.https://t.co/6Ohl9az9jo
– Rep. Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) December 17, 2024
The focus of the interim report is Loudermilk’s recommendation that the Justice Department take criminal action Cheney for collusion with Hutchinson without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s lawyer and Cheney’s possible tampering with criminal witnesses.
Loudermilk further accused Cheney and Hutchinson of baselessly working to disqualify Hutchinson’s original attorney following Cheney’s backdoor attack.
The Georgia congresswoman also said that Hutchinson, encouraged by Cheney, testified to the J6 committee about outrageous claims that she and no one else had evidence to back up.
Hutchinson’s claims included that Trump physically assaulted his Secret Service agents – including the driver – to divert his vehicle toward Capitol Hill, which Loudermilk’s report said was false.
Hutchinson did not write a handwritten note with the text of a Trump tweet on January 6, 2021Trump also did not have information indicating violence would occur on the morning of Jan. 6 — two other stories from Hutchinson, the chairman’s report said.
READ MORE: Bannon slams “Joan of Arc” Cassidy Hutchinson changes J6 statement: “She lied!”
Williamson: Hutchinson called me about her statement
“Almost three years ago, in early 2022, I received a call from Cassidy informing me that her closed-door testimony before the J6 Committee was imminent with a subpoena,” Williamson said.
“Cassidy indicated she was concerned that our old Trump WH colleagues, including our boss Mark Meadows, might think she was ‘disloyal’ for complying with a subpoena and appearing to testify,” he said.
“I interrupted her mid-conversation and replied, ‘No one will think you are disloyal just because you followed a subpoena, and Mark would never ask you to do anything other than do the right thing and tell the truth.’ “He wouldn’t think you were disloyal,” he said.
Hutchinson’s former boss said she agreed it wouldn’t be a problem, and the conversation ended without raising any alarm bells.
The North Carolina native said months have passed. Then he was surprised to see the J6 committee promoting Hutchinson as one of their key witnesses and making “totally outlandish claims that had nothing to do with reality – many of which were rightly disputed or dismissed within minutes.”
One of the unique features of the J6 Committee public hearing was its hyper-theatrical staging, directed by James Goldston. Goldston worked for ABC News for 17 years, including the last seven years as the network’s news president.
Williamson said that as he watched Hutchinson’s testimony, he saw Cheney post an anonymous message to Hutchinson on the giant screen that dominated the hearing room before calling her former boss about the closed-door testimony.
“Cheney claimed it was evidence of witness intimidation,” he said.
“The anonymous message Cheney displayed read in part: ‘He (Meadows) told me you have your deposition tomorrow.’ “He knows that you are loyal and will do the right thing when you submit your statement,” he said. “I later learned through public messages that this was referring to me.”
Williamson: Cheney, Hutchinson set me up with the FBI
Williamson, now chief of staff for Rep. Michael J. Cloud, said Cheney’s account of the phone conversation between him and Hutchinson was a fantasy.
“It was a completely twisted, completely nonsensical retelling of the conference call in which Cassidy complained to me about ‘loyalty,'” he said. “They (and the committee) embellished parts of the exchange, fabricated others, and turned it into a lie that appeared to intimidate witnesses.”
Then it got worse, he said.
“The J6 committee portrayed this report as factual – even though it was not – and then passed my name to reporters to create the narrative that I was guilty,” he said.
“In the weeks and months that followed, I was charged with criminal exposure – all nonsense. Members like Dan Goldman publicly accused me of ‘witness tampering,'” he said.
Next, the Federal Bureau of Investigation got involved, he said.
“The FBI brought me in for hours of interrogation,” he said. “Meanwhile, the J6 Committee never once contacted me or my lawyers to question me about this interaction before uncritically spreading the dishonest version.”
Williamson said many people have been through worse things than him, but he still remembers it as a very arduous time – especially because it was arduous to find legal representation.
“They spread countless falsehoods about my friends, colleagues and bosses and forced many good people to defend themselves in ways they never should have had to,” he said.
“I’ll never forget that.”
