Criminal contempt charges against Donald Trump's former chief of staff for refusing to testify were overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers probing the attack on the US Capitol on Monday.
Mark Meadows had made it apparent that he would not comply with a subpoena to appear before a bipartisan congressional select committee on January 6. He missed his second planned deposition last week.
Members are looking into Trump's efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election by launching an anti-democratic campaign that resulted in the deadly Capitol riot—as well as the assistance he received from Meadows.
Trump's fourth and final White House chief, a former congressman, told the panel he would not testify until his former boss's claim of "executive privilege," which permits presidents to keep specific talks with aides private, is resolved in the courts.
"Whatever legacy he thought he left in the House, this is his legacy now: former colleagues singling him out for criminal prosecution because he won't answer questions about what he knows about a brutal attack on our democracy," said Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee.
"That's his legacy," says the narrator. But he hasn't given us any other option. Mr. Meadows placed himself in this predicament, and he must now embrace the ramifications."
'Specially positioned'
According to investigators, meadows, the ultra-conservative, is marketing a new biography that includes extensive recollections of January 6 and his interactions with Trump, undermining any right to avoid testimony.
In primetime appearances on right-wing cable network Fox News, he has also commented about the incident several times.
Many of the things the committee wants to ask him are concerning 6,600 pages of documents seized from personal email accounts and roughly 2,000 text messages that he turned over without claiming any privilege before he stopped cooperating.
Trump's attempt to prevent the committee from seeing records and testimony from former White House aides was rebuffed last week by an appeals court, which agreed with a lower court that the defeated ex-president had presented no basis for secrecy. He had two weeks to file an appeal.
Meadows was Trump's top assistant at the time of the attack, and he was apparently in the White House with the president as the rioters broke into the Capitol.
According to the committee, he is "uniquely situated to provide key information, having straddled an official role in the White House and an unofficial role related to Mr. Trump's re-election campaign,."
Meadows informed an anonymous person in an email on January 5 that the National Guard was on standby to "protect pro-Trump people," according to a 51-page document revealed by the investigation on Sunday.
'Worried messages'
According to panel member Adam Schiff, the cache contained "panicked messages" to Meadows from administration officials during the assault.
Committee deputy chair Liz Cheney revealed that Donald Trump Jr. and "multiple Fox News hosts" contacted him, pleading to persuade the president to call off the riots.
The committee will approve the contempt citation Monday evening, and Meadows is expected to be referred to the Justice Department by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday.
A date for a charging decision has not yet been set. Meadows might face a six-month prison sentence if convicted of each contempt charge, but a fine is more likely.
Meadows sued the select committee's nine members and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week, accusing them of misusing their authority and requesting a federal judge to stop the subpoenas issued to him and Verizon for his phone records from being enforced.
On Monday, his attorney, George Terwilliger, wrote to the panel, calling the anticipated prosecution "manifestly unwise, unjust, and unfair."
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol 11 months ago. Many of them were affiliated with ultra-nationalist and white supremacist groups in an attempt to overthrow President Joe Biden's election victory.
Trump had made bogus charges of election fraud for months in a furious address earlier that day, and he called on followers to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell."
In October, the House of Representatives proposed charges against former White House strategist Steve Bannon. In July, he will stand trial on two counts of contempt.
In a statement, Schiff warned that any other witnesses who refuse to answer subpoenas could face "potential jail time."
