On Monday, the House select committee unanimously voted in favor of holding Meadows in contempt of Congress and now it is up to the Justice Department to decide if it will pursue criminal charges against ex-President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff.
The vote, despite being pushed through by a Democratic majority, marks a significant moment in the January 6 investigation given Meadows’ role as Trump’s chief of staff and his intimate knowledge of efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows is the second official to face such a referral from the panel. The committee approved a criminal contempt report against Trump ally Steve Bannon in October after he refused to comply with a subpoena deadline.
Meadows has consistently insisted he wants to shield some of his conversations with the former President under claims of executive privilege but has already handed over thousands of documents which the panel says only adds to the need for him to testify.
But so far, Meadows has refused to do so and his defiance is at the core of Tuesday’s vote to refer him on criminal charges.
“The select committee’s report referring Mr. Meadows for criminal contempt charges is clear and compelling,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said on Tuesday. “As White House chief of staff, Mr. Meadows played a role in or was witness to key events leading up to and including the January 6th assault on the United States Capitol.”
Meadows’ attorney issued a new statement Tuesday ahead of the full House vote saying that his client is still cooperating with the committee in some ways, but maintained he cannot be compelled to appear for questioning as he is not “licensed to waive Executive Privilege” claimed by Trump.
Meadows “has fully cooperated as to documents in his possession that are not privileged and has sought various means to provide other information while continuing to honor the former president’s privilege claims,” his attorney George J. Terwilliger III said in a statement.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chair of the select committee, said Tuesday that Meadows had received numerous text messages urging Trump to take action to stop the riot that he has produced without any privilege claim.
Later Tuesday, Thompson told CNN the committee will “make a decision within a week or so when to release” the names of the authors of the texts to Meadows on January 6 after members referenced several messages exchanged between the former White House chief of staff and lawmakers as the riot unfolded.
Thompson said committee members felt it was “important” to put the content out before releasing the names.
“Then we will do our own review on the committee as to if and…
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