Now that we’ve had a chance to look over the 51-page document released by the Jan. 6 committee last night, one thing jumps off the pages—the White House chief of staff was deeply and intimately involved in the events on insurrection day, January 6, 2021. The case laid out by the committee is strong for Meadows to be held in contempt of Congress. Heather Cox Richardson writes in her newsletter:

More specifically, though, the report places Meadows at key junctures in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection and on January 6 itself. It places him with Trump on January 6.

But what jumps off the page in the report is the discussion of the National Guard’s response to the riot. The report says that “Mr. Meadows reportedly spoke with Kashyap Patel, who was then the chief of staff to former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, ‘nonstop’ throughout the day of January 6. And, among other things, Mr. Meadows apparently knows if and when Mr. Trump was engaged in discussions regarding the National Guard’s response to the Capitol riot.” 

So, the obvious question is, did someone in the White House purposely delay the National Guards response in order for Trump supporters to stop the certification of the election? Were they hoping for counter-protesters so the White House could declare martial law?

Before he stopped cooperating with the committee, Meadows had already turned over thousands of documents. Here are some of the emails and texts as reported by New York Times :

  • A Nov. 7 email that discussed an attempt to arrange with state legislators to appoint slates of pro-Trump electors instead of the Biden electors chosen by the voters. Mr. Meadows’s text messages also showed him asking members of Congress how to put Mr. Trump in contact with state legislators.
  • Text messages Mr. Meadows exchanged with an unidentified senator in which he recounted Mr. Trump’s view on Vice President Mike Pence’s ability to reject electors from certain states. Mr. Trump “thinks the legislators have the power, but the VP has power too,” Mr. Meadows wrote.
  • A Jan. 5 email in which Mr. Meadows said the National Guard would be present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to “protect pro Trump people.”
  • Emails from Mr. Meadows to Justice Department officials on Dec. 29, Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 in which he encouraged investigations of voter fraud, including allegations already rejected by federal investigators and courts.

The Washington Post notes this excerpt from the report:

“As the violence at the Capitol unfolded, Mr. Meadows received many messages encouraging him to have Mr. Trump issue a statement that could end the violence,” the committee wrote. “One former White House employee reportedly contacted Mr. Meadows several times and told him, ‘You guys have to say something. Even if the president’s not willing to put out a statement, you should go to the [cameras] and say, “We condemn this. Please stand down.” If you don’t, people are going to die.’”

Meadows declined to be interviewed by the committee, so Representatives added a list of questions to the end of their report on what they would have asked the former chief of staff. The questions are telling. From Politico:

“We would have asked him about text messages sent to and received from a Senator regarding the Vice President’s power to reject electors, including a text in which Mr. Meadows recounts a direct communication with President Trump who, according to Mr. Meadows in his text messages, quote, ‘thinks the legislators have the power, but the VP has power Too,’” the panel’s investigators noted.