WASHINGTON – Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is now working with the House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol uprising, which may avert a contempt for defies the panel’s subpoena for documents and testimony.
“Mr. Meadows has engaged with the select committee through his attorney,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Said Tuesday. “He has submitted records to the committee and will soon show up for an initial deposit.”
While acknowledging Meadows’ collaboration, Thompson said he did not rule out future actions.
“The committee will continue to assess his degree of compliance with our subpoena,” the chairman said.
Meadows had been among a number of former officials and campaign advisers who refused to cooperate with the investigation. Former President Donald Trump is fighting for a subpoena for his administration documents in a federal appeals court Tuesday. And the Ministry of Justice has reported criminal charges of contempt against Trump’s political strategist Steve Bannon.
George Terwilliger, a lawyer for Meadows, said earlier this month that the former chief of staff would not cooperate with the committee until the court’s battle over Trump’s demands for executive privileges is resolved.
On Tuesday, Terwilliger said his client provided “voluntary responses” that did not involve privileged communication.
“As we have done from the beginning, we will continue to work with the select committee and its staff to see if we can reach a home that does not require Mr. Meadows to relinquish Executive Privilege or lose the longtime position as senior White House aides can not be forced to testify before Congress, “Terwilliger said in a statement.
The committee summoned Meadows on September 23 for his communication with Trump on January 6 and with the organizers of a meeting in which the president spoke before a mob attacked the Capitol.
The committee is also seeking information that Meadows is contacting the Department of Justice and requesting investigations into election fraud in several states and urging more government officials to investigate allegations of election fraud. More than 60 election cases were rejected due to lack of status or profit.
Terwilliger sent a letter to the committee in which he said Meadows felt “obliged” to disregard the subpoena.
