Contact a witness

Cheney: Committee informed DOJ that Trump attempted to contact a witness not yet seen in hearings

From CNN's Alex Rogers, Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez and Tierney Sneed

Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said former President Donald Trump attempted to contact a witness who has not yet been publicly identified.

“After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation, a witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,” Cheney saidat the end of the House select committee hearing on Tuesday. “That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call, and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us. And this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice.”

As notable as Cheney's revelation is, she also raises the possibility that the incident could prompt interest from Justice Department prosecutors.

This is the first time the committee has explicitly described providing information to the Justice Department that they discovered during their probe. 

However, it's not the first public suggestion of witness tampering the committee has made. Previously, the committee noted two incidents where their star witness Cassidy Hutchinson received messages about being loyal to Donald Trump. It should be noted that making a call isn’t witness tampering in and of itself.

Those, however, weren't from Trump himself — and Trump's personal involvement raises the stakes if the message was intended to impact a witness' testimony.

Cheney didn't disclose the substance of it.

It's still not clear how the committee communicated the information to the Justice Department, and whether it could be considered a criminal referral.

The Justice Department hasn't responded to CNN's request for comment.