Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff to Donald Trump, defied a congressional subpoena on Friday morning by failing to appear for scheduled testimony in front of the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meadows now faces the possibility that he’ll be held in contempt of Congress, which is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Meadows has also refused to hand over documents sought by investigators. In particular, they want Meadows to provide any recorded communications he had with the organizers of the rally that proceeded the Capitol attack.
USA Today reports:
The committee also seeks information about Meadows contacting the Justice Department requesting investigations into election fraud in several states and encouraging several state officials to investigate allegations of election fraud. More than 60 election lawsuits were dismissed for issues such as lack of standing or merit.
In a letter to Meadows’ lawyer released on Thursday night, the chairman of the House committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), warned “Simply put, there is no valid legal basis for Mr. Meadows’s continued resistance to the Select Committee’s subpoena.”
Thompson continued “The Select Committee will view Mr. Meadows’s failure to appear at the deposition, and to produce responsive documents or a privilege log indicating the specific basis for withholding any documents you believe are protected by privilege, as willful non-compliance. Such willful noncompliance with the subpoena would force the Select Committee to consider invoking the contempt of Congress procedures.”
Meadows’ attorney, George J. Terwilliger III, said Friday morning that his client won’t cooperate with the House investigation until the courts evaluate Trump’s claim that the testimony and evidence sought is protected by executive privilege.
“Legal disputes are appropriately resolved by courts. It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues,” Terwilliger said.
The Associated Press explains:
Meadows would be the second of the committee’s witnesses to be held in contempt after the House voted to hold [Steve] Bannon in contempt last month.
Whether either of them would face consequences will be up to the Justice Department, which has so far not said whether it will prosecute Bannon’s case. The panel has been been pushing the department to do so, but Attorney General Merrick Garland has made clear that his lawyers will make an independent decision.