The United States congressional committee probing the January 6 Capitol Riot voted to seek “contempt of Congress” charges against former White House chief of staff to Donald Trump Monday.
Mark Meadows, who was a member of the House for more than seven years until joining the Trump administration in 2020, has ignored subpoenas to appear before the Democrat-led committee repeatedly.
Monday, the House of Representatives Select Committee unanimously voted to approve a report recommending the criminal charge against Meadows. The committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans members has now paved the way for a vote by the full chamber.
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Meadows has turned over some information at the panel’s request but has stopped short with some documents. Meadows contends these documents are protected because he worked for the president.
Meadows has sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the U.S. House Select Committee, claiming that they are exceeding their constitutional authority.
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“For months, Mr. Meadows has consistently sought in good faith to pursue an accommodation with the Select Committee whereby it could obtain relevant, non-privileged information,” the complaint says.
“While the Committee and Mr. Meadows engaged over a period of time in an effort to achieve such reasonable accommodation, the Select Committee adamantly refused to recognize the immunity of present and former senior White House aides from being compelled to appear before Congress and likewise refused to recognize a former president’s claims of Executive Privilege and instructions to Mr. Meadows to maintain such privilege claims in addressing the Select Committee’s inquiries.”
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His attorney, George Terwilliger, also sent a letter to the committee requesting it to reconsider its plan to vote on Monday. He argued that it would be illegal for the panel to refer the matter for a House vote.
Representative Bennie Thompson, the Select Committee’s chairman, scoffed at the argument at Monday’s meeting, stating that Meadows published and is promoting a book detailing the events the panel is investigating.
“He has no credible excuse for stonewalling the Select Committee’s investigation,” Thompson said.
Thompson also said investigators have received more than 30,000 records and about 300 witnesses have testified.
The Select Committee seemingly will stop at nothing to go after Trump. It will be interesting to see what the court says and how the House votes.
