It’s up to the witness whether or not they request an attorney being present dumbfuk
she had a lawyer, you dembot
It is unusual—and potentially unethical—for a Member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the Member knows that the individual is represented by legal counsel. Representative Cheney is an attorney, and an attorney who circumvents an individual’s legal representation would violate well-established attorney ethics standards and the Washington D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, regardless of who initiates the contact. 82 While it is not clear how the D.C. Bar would apply this rule to an attorney who also sits as a Member of Congress, its rules state 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. . . .”83 This appears to be precisely what Representative Cheney did at this time, and within a matter of days of these secret conversations, Hutchinson would go on to recant her previous testimony and introduce her most outlandish claims. It must be emphasized that Representative Cheney would likely have known her communications without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s attorney were illicit and unethical at that time. Farah
Griffin indicated as much in her previously-mentioned message to Hutchinson on April 28, 2022, when she wrote that Representative Cheney’s “one concern” was that as long as Hutchinson was represented by counsel, “she [Cheney] can’t really ethically talk to you [Hutchinson] without him [Passantino].”84 Despite Representative Cheney’s initial hesitation, the Subcommittee uncovered evidence of frequent, direct conversations between Hutchinson and Representative Cheney without Passantino’s knowledge, and also through their intermediary Farah Griffin.85 Understandably, Representative Cheney attempted to distance herself from the appearance of impropriety in her memoir published in the aftermath of the Select Committee. In her words, she was “sympathetic to [Hutchinson’s] situation, but [Representative Cheney] did not want our committee to be advising her on what to do next.”86 It remains to be determined why Representative Cheney would allegedly avoid communicating with Hutchinson in April because of her commitment to ethics but would communicate with her frequently under those same circumstances in May and June as the date of their televised hearing grew closer.
Vice Chair Cheney Covertly Assisted Hutchinson and Influenced Her to Fire Her Attorney Representative Cheney’s influence on Hutchinson went beyond contacting Hutchinson directly. Representative Cheney played a primary role in Hutchinson firing her current, free-to-her legal counsel Passantino, and even provided Hutchinson with a list of attorneys that would likely contribute to building the Select Committee’s narrative.87 The account of how Hutchinson terminated her counsel and hired new counsel varies in important ways between Hutchinson’s and Representative Cheney’s respective memoirs, both published in the aftermath of the Select Committee.