The House of Representatives will soon vote on Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows should be referred to the Department of Justice on criminal charges against do not appear to deposit with the selection committee investigating the January 6 attacks.
Meadows is the latest official to face the possibility of such a referral from the council. The committee approved a criminal contempt report against Trump ally Steve Bannon in October after he refused to comply with a subpoena deadline.
Here are the important things to know as we await a vote:
What the committee did on Monday: Dashboard unanimously voted in favor on keeping Meadows in contempt of Congress, and now the full House will vote on whether it asks the Justice Department to prosecute criminal charges against former Chief of Staff President Donald Trump. or not.
What does contempt of crime mean? That is one of three options The congressional committee may pursue to enforce its subpoena, along with civil and inherent contempt. Once a criminal contempt recommendation is cleared by the House’s selection committee, that committee will go to the full House for a vote. If that vote is successful, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirms the report to the US attorney for the District of Columbia.
By law, the certificate then requires the U.S. attorney to “bring the matter to a grand jury to hear his actions,” but the Justice Department will also make its own prosecution decisions.
Any individual found to have acted in contempt of Congress will be charged with a crime punishable by a fine and imprisonment of one to 12 months. But the process is rarely called out and rarely leads to a prison sentence.
What both sides are saying: Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said Tuesday that as “White House chief of staff, Mr. Meadows played a role in or was a witness to significant events.” leading up to and including the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.” Thompson noted that the selection committee’s report “introduced Mr. Meadows to contempt was clear and convincing.”
Meadows’ attorney issued a new statement Tuesday ahead of a full vote in the House of Representatives saying his client is still cooperating with the committee in some ways, but he cannot be forced to. had to appear for questioning because he was not authorized to waive Trump’s claimed Executive Privileges.
Meadows “has been fully cooperative with respect to documents not owned by him and has sought various ways to provide other information while continuing to respect the former president’s requests for privilege.” , his attorney George J. Terwilliger III said in a statement.
Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice chair of the selection committee, said Tuesday that Meadows received many text messages urged Trump to act to stop the riots he had created without any claim of privilege.
Read more about tonight’s House vote here.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed reporting to this post.
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