If the Justice Department decides to prosecute the case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows could face up to a year in prison for each count of contempt of Congress.
Patrick Semansky / AP
hide captions
switch captions
Patrick Semansky / AP
If the Justice Department decides to prosecute the case, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows could face up to a year in prison for each count of contempt of Congress.
Patrick Semansky / AP
The day after the legislators shared In an explosive series of messages sent to Mark Meadows during the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the Democratic-led US House voted to elect former White House Chief of Staff Trump in criminal contempt of court. Congress.
Tuesday night’s vote, which was voted almost entirely along party lines, triggered a series of steps to send a referral to the US attorney’s office, leaving the Justice Department to decide whether to prosecute. in the case or not.
If so, Meadows could face up to a year in prison for each contempt, plus a fine.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the select committee investigating the Capitol riots, said Tuesday it was a “difficult affair” to proceed with the introduction, especially special because Meadows is a veteran House of Representatives member from North Carolina.
But as a former lawmaker, Meadows should have been more aware of the consequences of defying a subpoena, Thompson argued.
“There was a steady stream of communication between several members of Congress and Mr. Meadows on issues that are central to our investigation,” Thompson said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “We have questions about those communications. We will pursue those questions and we will not let the truth be covered up by a cover-up.”
Most Republicans speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday dismissed the committee’s statement, saying it was an illustration of a partisan attack tied to former President Donald Trump.
“Mark Meadows is a former colleague of ours, he’s a good man and he’s my friend,” said Ohio GOP Representative Jim Jordan. “This is wrong as it is. You all know it. But your lust for power, your lust for an opponent is so intense, you don’t care.”
Meadows initially partnered with the board, turning over thousands of private emails and text messages, but reversed course last week. The day before he was due to appear for a deposition on December 8, Meadows speak he will no longer cooperate, causing the commission’s criminal referral process.
“The way we handled January 6 was the moral test of our generation,” the panel’s ranking Republican, Representative Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said during the debate above. floor. “Very sad to see how my colleagues across the aisle are dealing with this. Mr. Meadows has refused to testify on non-privileged material, he is contemptuous.”
On Monday, Cheney shared multiple text messages She said Meadows received during the January 6 siege. From Fox News personalities to Donald Trump Jr., all urged Meadows to ask then-President Trump to end the violence, she said.
On Tuesday, she read another series of text messages sent to Meadows by unnamed Republican lawmakers:
“It’s really bad here on the Hill,” read one message, Cheney said.
“The president needs to stop this ASAP,” read another, she said.
“Fix this problem now,” Cheney read another Republican text message to Meadows.
During the floor debate, additional select council members read more text messages from unnamed lawmakers to Meadows, including one saying they needed an “active strategy.” ” to overturn the election results.
Thompson told reporters earlier on Tuesday that the lawmakers in the messages could be identified later and did not rule out potential discussions with them at a later date.
“At some point they will [named], but it’s a little early to do that right now,” he said.
Thompson noted that of the more than 300 witnesses who have appeared before the panel to date, three are the targets of subpoenas issued by the committee. Committee problem more than 50 subpoenas.
In addition, the panel also received more than 30,000 documents and nearly 250 tips, Thompson noted.
Defense of the grasslands
On Tuesday, Meadows, through his attorney, denied the claims that he “discontinued cooperation.” Attorney George Terwilliger said in a statement that Meadows was unable to appear before the panel and violated executive privilege claims withheld by Trump.
Terwillger said in a statement: “He has been fully cooperative with respect to material that does not belong to him and has sought various ways to make other information available while continuing to respect the claims made by him. prerogative of the former president,” Terwillger said in a statement.
Terwilliger noted that the committee used private messages that Meadows passed on to the panel as part of a larger effort to pursue a contempt referral against him. “What message does that overlap send to him and to others who tend to consider cooperating in good faith to the extent possible?” Terwilliger argued.
Meadows also has sued the commission in an attempt to prevent enforce the subpoenas it has issued.
President Biden waives executive privilege in the Meadows case, superseding any other statement, the committee argued. The issue of executive privilege is also at the heart of the Trump case, which the former president hopes will be heard by the Supreme Court after losing his case to the appeals court.
Meadows’ book about his time in the White House, Manager, was released last week, complicating his executive privilege claims.
late sunday, The committee released a 51-page contempt report on Meadows along with more than a dozen exhibits documenting the panel’s exchanges with Meadows since he was one of the first witnesses to be subpoenaed.
The report notes that during the short time Meadows was collaborating, he delivered to the committee about 6,600 pages of records from his personal email account, plus about 2,000 personal text messages.
