Ex-Cassidy Hutchinson lawyer files bar complaint against Liz Cheney for secret J6 communications

The lawyer who first represented star Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson before the Democrat-led select committee has filed a bar complaint against Liz Cheney for communicating with his client without his knowledge. 

The complaint to the D.C. Bar from lawyer Stefan Passantino and his attorneys at America First Legal follows a Just the News report that then-GOP Congresswoman Cheney covertly communicated with Hutchinson on the Signal app without her lawyer as the witness was planning further testimony before the Jan. 6 Select Committee. 

Passantino previously told Just the News he did not authorize the contacts with Cheney, vice chairwoman of the committee, and was not aware of them until reached for comment. Now he is urging the bar to conduct an ethics probe into the former congresswoman. 

The messages were originally uncovered by GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, which is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into the security failures on Jan. 6 and the subsequent partisan investigation. 

“The Subcommittee’s report is shocking, and indicates that Elizabeth Cheney clearly communicated with Mr. Passantino’s client without his knowledge or approval," America First Legal Executive Director Gene Hamilton said in a statement. "The damage done to his reputation and to his career based on these communications is indescribable, and it appears to have all been driven by former Representative Cheney.” 

He also said: “Mr. Passantino deserves justice and we have asked that the bar investigate Representative Cheney’s conduct that appears to be in clear violation of the rules governing attorneys."

You can read Passantino’s complaint below: 

Loudermilk, chairman of the oversight subcommittee, previously told Just the News that the messages were evidence that Cheney defied her ethical responsibilities and may have been the impetus for Hutchinson to switch lawyers. 

"Our investigation has uncovered unethical back-channel communications between former Rep. Liz Cheney and Cassidy Hutchinson just before Hutchinson changed her sworn testimony," Loudermilk said. "Not only is communicating with a witness without their attorney present unethical, it undermines the integrity of an investigation.

"As a licensed attorney, Liz Cheney would have known the ethical and legal issues with this communication," he also said. "Clearly, Cheney did not want Stefan Passantino representing Hutchinson; as shortly after Cheney and Hutchinson began communicating, Cheney convinced Hutchinson to fire Passantino, and arranged for a new attorney to represent Hutchinson pro-bono.”

Hutchinson, who was a key aide to Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, was a first hand witness to many of the events of Jan. 6 from the perspective of the White House. 

After firing Passantino, Hutchinson would go on to testify to the committee again, altering several components of her original testimony and providing new accounts that would feature prominently in the final report, including some that were disputed by other witnesses. Several of the new narratives were documented by Just the News. Hutchinson explained her revisions in part by claiing Passantino pressured her to stay loyal to Trump, which he has denied. 

One was the now infamous story about how then-President Trump allegedly grabbed the wheel of the presidential vehicle in anger after the Secret Service allegedly refused to take him to the Capitol. Though this claim was directly refuted by the driver of the vehicle, the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Committee credited that information in its final report as being credible.

American First Legal argues that Passantino “has suffered tremendous damages” because of Cheney’s alleged violation of bar rules. The legal foundation is requesting the bar launch an investigation into the alleged offenses. 

Cheney is a licensed lawyer in Washington, D.C., where the DC Bar rules state unequivocally that “a lawyer shall not communicate or cause another to communicate about the subject of the representation with a person known to be represented by another lawyer in the matter, unless the lawyer has the prior consent of the lawyer representing such other person or is authorized by law or a court order to do so.”