The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach voted 9-0 on Monday to recommend that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress, following up on a threat to do so last week over his refusal to cooperate with their probe.
The Jan. 6 panel’s Monday vote sends the measure to the full House, which is expected to vote on it as soon as Tuesday on whether to request the Justice Department of the Biden administration prosecute Meadows.
Meadows, a Republican, served as a U.S. House representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district prior to joining the Trump administration.
But Meadows took offense to the panel issuing subpoenas for information from third parties, as well as to how Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, recently said that one asserting their Fifth Amendment rights was akin to an admission of guilt.
“As a result of careful and deliberate consideration of these factors, we now must decline the opportunity to appear voluntarily for a deposition,” Meadow’s attorney, George Terwilliger III, wrote in the letter.
Terwilliger has not responded to a request for comment over the latest Jan. 6 committee vote.
Shortly following the vote, in remarks to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Meadows said the push to have him be held in contempt is about going after Trump.
“This is not about me, holding me in contempt. It’s not even about making the Capitol safer,” Meadows said, adding later, “This is about Donald Trump and about actually going after him once again.”
Among multiple items, the report alleged that Meadows on Jan. 2 contacted President Donald Trump and other state and federal officials over a call “to discuss overturning certain states’ electoral college results.”
He “later sent the former vice president’s staff a memo drafted by a Trump campaign lawyer urging the vice president to delay or decline the counting of votes from certain states,” the report alleged.
The report also alleged that Meadows “sent an email to an individual about the events on January 6 and said that the National Guard would be present to ‘protect pro Trump people’ and that many more would be available on standby.”
“Such a referral would be contrary to law. The Select Committee and the House should make no such referral,” he wrote, adding that “a good-faith invocation of executive privilege and testimonial immunity by a former senior executive official” is not a crime.
Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the Jan. 6 panel’s vice chair, previously indicated they want to hear from Meadows regarding records he turned over to the committee and about records he has not that are stored on his phone and email accounts.
They alleged Meadows failed to adhere to the Presidential Records Act by withholding the records.
The Jan. 6 committee has faced increasing criticism from many Republicans. It was formed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after the Senate GOP blocked a bill that would have approved a commission to probe Jan. 6.
Pelosi refused to seat members picked by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and chose Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), both known for their fervent opposition to Trump, as the only Republican members.
