FILE – White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows speaks on a telephone on the South Garden of the White Home in Washington, on Oct. 30, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP
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Patrick Semansky/AP
FILE – White Home chief of employees Mark Meadows speaks on a telephone on the South Garden of the White Home in Washington, on Oct. 30, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP
The dispute between the Home choose committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and Mark Meadows escalated Friday with no signal that the previous Trump Chief of Workers complied with a deadline set by the panel to seem.
Meadows was not seen outdoors the D.C. federal constructing the place witnesses have met with committee officers forward of the ten a.m. EST deadline.
The committee issued a warning to Meadows Thursday night time, saying his refusal to adjust to the congressional subpoena “would power the Choose Committee to think about invoking the contempt of Congress procedures.”
The chairman of the Jan. 6 panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote to George Terwilliger, Meadow’s lawyer, to say “there is no such thing as a legitimate authorized foundation for Mr. Meadows’s continued resistance to the Choose Committee’s subpoena.”
Nevertheless, Terwilliger doubled down on the stance that the courts should resolve the dispute over government privilege.
“Our correspondence over the previous few weeks exhibits a pointy authorized dispute with the committee. The problems concern whether or not Mr. Meadows might be compelled to testify and whether or not, even when he may , that he might be pressured to reply questions that contain privileged communications,” Terwilliger stated. “Authorized disputes are appropriately resolved by courts. It will be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges which might be on the coronary heart of these authorized points.”
Terwilliger’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to questions confirming Meadows wouldn’t meet with the committee. He did situation a press release Thursday saying Meadows, who served within the Home from 2013 to 2020, wouldn’t be capable to comply.
Former President Trump has signaled to Meadows and different former advisers and allies that government privilege may additionally protect them from cooperating with the investigation. Nevertheless, the authorized protect largely rests with the present president. It is the topic of recent litigation between Trump and the committee now earlier than an appellate court docket.
Of the 35 subpoenas issued so far, just one witness, former Justice Division official Jeffrey Clark, has appeared before the panel — however to claim that privilege prevented him from answering questions. One other, former strategist Steve Bannon, was referred for a criminal contempt charge to the Justice Division, which may take extra steps to prosecute the matter.
