The House select committee on Jan. 6 will proceed with its deposition on Wednesday even if Mark Meadows does not show up, Chairman Bennie Thompson announced Tuesday.
Thompson and ranking member Liz Cheney said they will recommend Meadows, who announced earlier on Tuesday that he was rescinding his cooperation with the select committee, face contempt charges if he does not show up for the deposition, which “was scheduled at Mr. Meadows’s request.”
“Mark Meadows has informed the Select Committee that he does not intend to cooperate further with our investigation despite his apparent willingness to provide details about the facts and circumstances surrounding the January 6th attack, including conversations with President Trump, in the book he is now promoting and selling,” the committee’s leaders said in a joint statement.
MEADOWS WITHDRAWS COOPERATION WITH JAN. 6 COMMITTEE
Meadows’s lawyer said the former chief of staff was trying to cooperate but that the committee went too far and tried to obtain privileged information, such as his cellphone records.
The committee has cast a wide net in its attempts to obtain documents connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill siege and the preceding “Stop the Steal” rally hosted by Trump. So far, the committee has issued more than 100 subpoenas for Trump associates’ phone records, according to CNN.
Meadows served as Trump’s chief of staff during the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6 and was present during Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech that day. The committee appears interested in any information or evidence Meadows has regarding those events.
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If the committee recommends that he should be held in contempt of Congress, the motion will move to the full Congress for a vote.
If Congress advances the motion, it will send a criminal referral to the Justice Department, where it will likely be battled out in courts. Steve Bannon, another Trump associate, is set to go to trial over a contempt of Congress charge for his lack of cooperation with lawmakers.
