Mark Meadows asked an associate to 'influence' January 6 testimony of his former aide: report

On Friday, CNN reported that one of the people who tried to "influence" the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, did so on the request of Hutchinson's former boss, Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

"Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chairwoman of the committee, brought up two examples of possible witness intimidation at a hearing featuring Hutchinson, who was an aide to Meadows in the Trump White House, earlier this week, without naming a witness or who made contact," reported Zachary Cohen, Ryan Nobles, and Annie Grayer. "Sources now tell CNN that both instances recounted by Cheney were directed at Hutchinson, and that Hutchinson believes the messages were intended to impact her testimony."

"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,'" said the report.

According to the report, Meadows' team vehemently denies anything of the sort happened, with Meadows spokesperson Ben Williamson saying, "No one from Meadows camp, himself or otherwise, ever sought to intimidate or shape her conversations with the committee."

Legal experts have suggested that Meadows is facing serious liability for his active involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, with former prosecutor Harry Litman saying that the Justice Department is likely to make Meadows the subject or target of a criminal investigation.

Hutchinson provided a number of explosive new details about Trump's alleged behavior on the day of the attack, including that he demanded rioters be allowed to march to the Capitol even knowing that they were armed, and that he assaulted his own protective detail after the Secret Service told him he couldn't join his supporters at the site of the attack.