U.S. House panel seeks contempt charge against Meadows

Mark Meadows

Mark Meadows

The U.S. House panel probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol voted on Monday to seek “contempt of Congress” charges against Mark Meadows.

Meadows was a member of the House before he served as White House chief of staff to former President Donald Trump.

The seven Democratic and two Republican members of the House of Representatives Select Committee approved a report recommending the criminal charge against Meadows by a unanimous 9-0 vote, paving the way for a vote by the full chamber.

Trump’s former top White House aide “is uniquely situated to provide key information, having straddled an official role in the White House and unofficial role related to Mr. Trump’s reelection campaign,” the panel said in a 51-page report released Sunday evening.

Related News

The report detailed the questions lawmakers have about the thousands of emails and texts Meadows had provided to the committee before he ended his cooperation — including 6,600 pages of records taken from personal email accounts and about 2,000 text messages.

The panel has not released all the documents, but the report says they include exchanges about Meadows efforts’ to help Trump overturn his defeat in the presidential election, communications with members of Congress and organizers of a rally held the morning of the insurrection and frantic messages among aides and others as the violent attack unfolded that day.

Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair, detailed on Monday a series of text messages Meadows received on Jan. 6 from a slew of people, including Fox News anchors and Donald Trump Jr.

In the texts, allies and those in Trump’s inner circle attempted to reach Trump through his chief of staff, imploring him to take action against the violence that was taking place outside and inside the Capitol.

Load more